The Gambia News

Go with the Flow

Christopher Wakling - The Independent — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Children rarely scream at the sight of me. My own offspring, faced with my anger, might quiver a bit. But I'm not often that cross. I therefore didn't understand the terrified wailing when I first saw it in The Gambia. I was in a small village called Tubakulam, just north of the river which gives the country its name. A local mechanic, Ousman Camara, had kindly offered to show me around.

We had a cup of brutally strong green tea with his uncle, Nuha Darbo, while sitting on a wall and watching the sun dip towards the scrubby football pitch. Then we entered his family compound. Gambians mostly live together in communal extended-family groups: "best social security", Ousman explained. I met his sister, mother, aunts and assorted nephews and nieces.

All were astonishingly welcoming. I was invited to pound some rice, forgiven when I tired comically quickly in the heat, and – to change the subject, as much as anything else – shown the luscious cassava planted in the back-garden-field. The older children clustered around me yelling "Toubab!" ("it means white man, or tourist, in a nice way") and tried to hold my hands. I felt special. But the youngest child took one look at me and burst into tears.

I crouched down and smiled. The toddler screamed louder and buried his face in his mother's arms. She thought this very funny and thrust the child at me again. When he refused to calm down I beat a retreat.

To read the remainder of Chris Wakling's feature, please click to view the online version on The Independent website.

The Smiling Coast

Laura Cartledge - etc Magazine — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Peering out of the egg-shaped plane window at the grey, heavy sky and rain soaked runway it is hard to believe that in just six hours I will be in a completely different world. Yet sure enough as we start our decent the clouds part and beneath us Africa unrolls it’s warm red earth to welcome us.
The Gambia, known as the smiling coast of Africa, lives up to its reputation instantly as passengers exchange excited grins, eager and excited to get out and explore.The adventure begins with the baggage reclaim as a three-deep crowd clambers to be reunited with their belongings.And as boring black suitcase after boring black suitcase rolls past I regret not having brightened up my luggage.
Finally we make it to the bus and are given a very welcome ice cool bottle of water and a handmade wicker fan by The Gambia Experience team – and as I take my first sip it becomes clear we are going to be very well looked after. All aboard we make our way to the Coco Ocean Resort & Spa located in the coastal resort of Bijilo. It is only a 30 minute drive but it flies by as we all press our noses to the glass already captivated by the country. The roadside rolls past like a film reel with scenes of shop fronts adorned with hand painted signs, and men relaxing under trees while women with children strapped to their backs walk along balancing buckets on their heads. Before long we turn into our resort where the bustle of the streets is replaced by an instant air of calm. It is easy to see why the hotel is regarded as the most luxurious one in The Gambia and has become the place to stay for celebrities and discerning holidaymakers. The cool white walls, marble lined interior, domed roofs, high ceilings and abundance of lanterns create a Moroccan feel which at first seems strange, yet the way they all work together to maximise the natural light has something magical about it.
Following welcome drinks we are shown to our rooms and it is all I can do to keep my jaw hitting the floor when the glass front slides back to reveal floating, full length, white cotton curtains which reveal just a peek of what lies beyond. The floor was a checkers board of marble with a step up from the area with two sofas to the biggest bed I have ever seen. While the wall behind had two doors, one on each side of the bed, which concealed the ensuite - as luxury means not having to walk around to get to the bathroom. After a quick shower and change it was time for dinner. The hotel has a tasty choice of restaurants and menus with international chef cooking up the best cuisine from around the world. The main restaurant offers al fresco or more formal dining and with the weather being the perfect balance of balmy with a breeze we settle outside and tuck into a tasty avocado salad followed by succulent fish.
Well fed and worn out we retire for the night. The next morning I would like to say it was the cheerful bird song outside my room which awoke me but I am afraid nature was a bit closer than that, as a spider has been tempted by the plush pillows and massive mattress of my bed and it was he, crawling along my arm, that saw me spring into the second day.
After a breakfast of freshly baked pastries, freshly squeezed juice and perfectly poached eggs it was time to explore what else the hotel had to offer. Including tiered swimming pools stepping down to the sea, beach cabanas, rooms available for event hire which are understandably popular for weddings and a beautiful spa with everything you would expect and more. In fact there was so much to see it was almost possible to forget the wonders of the country just beyond the resort walls. Luckily our itinerary for the day began with a trip to Makasutu Cultural Forest, a 1000-acre conservation area and home to a unique eco resort in the heart of the African bush. Despite the growing heat we did manage to explore the dense palm forest and learn about the plethora of wildlife that called it home.
Our guide Mucki from West Africa Tours, provided a unique, informed and hilarious commentary, spotting a kingfisher he announced The Gambia boasts seven varieties of the bird, in comparison to England’s one.“That’s The Gambia seven, England one,” he would repeat. Meaning every sighting, be it of bird, lizard or baboon, would see England lose as he announced the score, football-style, with a grin of delight.
We then took to the water in canoes made from hollowed out silk trees to get a great view of the mango groves before returning to land and being entertained by a troop of baboons. At Makasutu we also saw the Mandina lodges, which have previously been awarded “Best Overseas Eco Development Project” by the British Guild of Travel Writers. Situated on stilts along the water edge the floating and jungle lodges look almost as if they have grown there rather than being built. Over a delicious lunch we meet owner Lawrence Williams whose passion for the area, and Africa, has fuelled a street art project called Wide Open Walls which works to bring art to the local communities. Lawrence came to the area as a backpacker after university and has never left, and when the time came for us to tear ourselves away and get back on the bus it was easy to see why.
For dinner we headed to Ngala Lodge, a stunning small intimate boutique style hotel which radiated an authentically African feeling from its rich red walls and tastefully picked traditional features. The food was equally as spectacular from the spoonsized amuse bouche, to the goats cheese and spiced vegetable spring rolls served on pickled cabbage with a garlic dip.They were honestly the best I have ever tasted and I could quite happily have eaten a bowl full, however that would have meant missing out on the delicious thai style banana crème brulee.
Day three of my stay coincided with Tobaski a public holiday with biblical foundations which has unfortunate repercussions if you are a ram… luckily our day didn’t include making any sacrifices instead we took a two hour catamaran trip up river from Lamin Lodge to Sitanunku Lodge. A new addition to The Gambia Experience portfolio Sitanunku is the perfect place for birdwatchers, fishers or those seeking a romantic hideaway. While some of us cool off in the plunge pool others take to the river in kayaks before we sit down, once more, to eat. On our return trip the sun is just beginning to set and the light at Lamin Lodge is captivating, making it the perfect end to another great day. After a breakfast of banana and chocolate pancakes we pop into Omakan hotel which is ideally placed for guests wanting to be closer to the Gambian village community. Something our next stop also includes as it is time for the part I have been looking forward to the most – the school visit.
First we head to a secondary school which has been helped by The Gambia Experience before visiting the primary school in Brikama which has been made possible, in part, to the work of Bognor Regis based charity Nyodema. Everyone was so welcoming and excited within minutes I found myself sat behind a little desk surrounded by smiling faces. It was exactly how a primary school should be full of life and fun.Too soon it was time to go. In fact time is a funny thing in The Gambia, to the point it is opening joked about. If you are told a journey, for instance, may take half an hour “Gambian time” you can expect it to take anywhere between ten minutes and two days. Of course this is partly due to the fact there are only seven sets of traffic lights in the country and that rams and cattle will always have right of way. However the relaxed pace does have its benefits as it feels like you are there for longer than you are. My four days honestly felt like it was a fortnight – but in a good way. The country still has so much for me to uncover which is just as well as I definitely plan to return.
www.etcmag.net

A Warm Welcome

Dominic Smith - The Argus - Saturday Magazine — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Through watery, bloodshot eyes, Papa Sang Jatta explained the only thing to do was return home with gifts.
“You’ve problems with your relationship,” he explained through our translator and guide, Mucki Bojang. “You don’t listen. You need to start giving to charity. Take some presents home for your family.” He was holding the palm of a curious Westerner in his left hand. In his right hand he had a wooden ivory tusk shaker which he rattled to call the spirits. The sweating patient gripped a mirror to help the shaman inspect his wrinkles and lines. The witch doctor stroked the fluffs of white hair on his chin and rubbed his wool hat. He patted down his blue shiny dress. Wrapped his white linen shawl tighter. Then cast out an inquisitive stare. “Well, it’s true I argue a lot,” replied our guinea pig, rapidly becoming self-analytical as some chickens scuttled away from baboons nosing about the bamboo shack. “He’s right, though. I’ve got to get my daughters something. Now, how much do I owe him?” We were in Makasutu Forest, in the west of The Gambia, a few hours’ drive south of the administrative capital, Banjul. Once the site of a bloody tribal battle and still haunted by demons and devils (there is a dead king buried somewhere beneath the cashew trees, apparently), the area is now notable for its playful monkeys who swing from trees like children in a jungle playground and splash about in the tributaries of the River Gambia. The place is not so isolated that old Papa Sang can’t receive post. The savvy man of 90 or 91 rains (no one can remember, especially not him) has his own PO box number. But such is the privacy available here Lawrence Williams, an Englishman who has travelled to every corner of Africa from Sudan to South Africa, is trying to turn the 1,000-acre forest into a cultural hideaway. He first visited The Gambia as an uncertain tourist 20 years ago and fell for Africa’s second smallest nation – bordered only by Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean – immediately. Now he owns a bunch of exclusive floating residences, Mandina Lodges, not far from Papa Sang’s hutch. The reason: “It’s the only place in Africa I didn’t feel like an outsider.” But Williams is no khakiclothed colonial. The giant expander earrings and butterfly hand tattoos (surely to local jewellery tastes) suggest a love of street culture and art. As well as the luxury lodges, he runs Wide Open Walls: an art project whose first installation saw eight Western graffiti artists empty 1,000 cans of paint on Kubuneh village in the hope of beginning a trail whose profits will be reinvested in health and education programmes. The dream is to establish artled tourism in a country where cultural pursuits are scant. Good luck to him. Few come here for anything other than sun. But when it’s virtually guaranteed, why would you? Well, as well as intrigue and isolation, there is the varied and myriad wildlife: more butterflies than a keeper could count; rare birds, lizards, monkeys; and, in the cocktail bars on the Kololi strip, the wonderful syrupy Guinness you only find in Africa and local lager JulBrew. To reach Kubuneh, take a wooden canoe downriver, past the upside-down amber mangroves which have oysters (smoked to make the fine soup at Jo Jo’s restaurant in Kololi) clinging like leeches to their roots. Before setting sail, though, try the palm wine. The thick white goo, with its bitter lemon and lychee taste, can be drained and drunk immediately, while after three days’ fermenting it comes in at a fruity 13%. The locals call it zum zum juice: drink the lot and your head goes zum zum. Once we’d lowered ourselves into the slightly leaky vessel, my head was certainly humming something.
Things cleared up back on dry land at my hotel, Coco Ocean, where staff outnumber guests by three to one. It’s the biggest employer in the country and its aim is luxury. The presidential suite – popular with Moroccan royalty and Nigerian capital Lagos’s high society – is yours for 1,900 euros per night. Whether it’s thanks to the pools and spas and beachside service or perceived threats outside the complex (the “bumsters” who befriend visitors in exchange, they hope, for money), tour guide Mucki said most visitors keep to the hotels and their immediate environs. Shame. Almost every soul you meet – at Brikama market with its rainbow colours and withered but GM-free aubergines, in Serrekunda, beside the silk cotton tree and wrestling arena with contenders in loin cloth, in the local schools filled with mischievous children so adorable a couple from Bognor were moved to pay for
their new school – wants only to find out about you and your world.
The Gambia is a flat, watery country whose name comes from the main river British colonialists once mistook for the Nile. We dragged ourselves away from Coco Ocean on the southern bank for a blissful three-hour catamaran (£55 per person) journey over the River Gambia to the North Bank. As we sailed on to another scruffy paradise, Sitanunku, the only sound was the swoosh of dolphins riding the bow. No major resort, with only plump baobab trees and modernist huts to distract from the beachside plunge pool, Sitanunku is the place to write that novel.
For inspiration, there are kayaks to reach uninhabited Dog Island. But most people come for the fishing. Living off shore are captain fish, barracuda and yellowfin tuna so large they’ve stopped counting world records. It sounded like a fisherman’s tale worthy of Hemingway, but Alhagie Sarr said he once spent 12 hours fighting a tarpoon. There were four men in the boat and at 7am the beast was hooked. By 7pm, after a series of long, exhausting shifts, the crew landed a fish as big as the boat and as wide as three men. Still, there was no regret when he wriggled out. There is a café where the chef will cook your catch or serve you one of the meaty white fish such as benachin or butter-fish that seem to be on every menu. Fishing is the last thought over at Sanyang beach, where the Atlantic is warm, if never calm, and the long stretch of sand seems to wrap its way around the entire coastline. For £45 West African Tours will drive you there and organise a beachside buffet lunch, before securing you an invitation to a traditional family compound, be it brick or mud, containing up to 40 people.
Lamb, sacrificed and spiced for the most important day in the calendar, Tobaski, was dished out at the compound we visited. And because sharing is the essence of the feast, which commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son for Allah and the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, we all sat round with greasy fingers and big smiles.
As we drove back to the hotel and on to the airport, past hundreds of skinny goats left over from the festival, the words from Papa Sang Jatta rang around my head. I contemplated giving one a new home, but instead reflected on how my own spiritual journey was over.

Happy Holidays

Jon Reeve - Southampton Daily Echo — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

SOMETIMES, you just can’t help smiling. You know that feeling when, quite unconsciously, you find yourself wearing a huge grin on your face? Well if you don’t, then after a few days in The Gambia you soon will.
It’s not so much the glorious weather, the wonderful wildlife, fantastic hotels or the stunning scenery – although they obviously all play their part. No, the thing that really stands The Gambia aside from the drudgery of a typically cold, grey and miserable English winter just a six-hour direct flight away, is its people.
The country, which snakes inland from the Atlantic Ocean along the course of the river from which it takes its name, is known as the continent’s smiling coast. And it doesn’t take long to realise why. It’s quite simply infectious, and everyone’s at it. If you’re not smiling, you’re the odd one out. The Gambian people pride themselves on their sunny good nature, and there is no more obvious a sign of their warmth and friendliness than the beaming smiles that seem to be a default on everyone’s faces.
Everywhere you go, people seem to be incredibly happy. Whether they’re serving you dinner, driving a taxi, or just going about their daily business, there’s an overwhelmingly positive outlook on life. And watching African life in action is fascinating. Driving through towns, the streets are lined with improvised-looking huts and shacks, as well as sturdier brick buildings, which all house bars, cafes and shops, with groups of men sitting around outside seemingly setting the world to rights.
As you head into the countryside, which is surprisingly green after the summertime rainy season, the buildings become scarcer, only to become replaced by sporadic stalls selling fruit and vegetables, and people waiting to catch a ride in a brightly coloured taxi or one of the many ramshackle and crowded minibuses that dominate the roads. But it’s when you get out of the car that you really get a feel for the extraordinary country and its people.
The market at The Gambia’s second largest city, Brikama, was such a hive of activity it made Southampton’s WestQuay look like a library. We visited on the busiest day of the year, the eve of Tobaski – which is the predominantly Muslim country’s equivalent of Christmas – and it was extraordinary. Everywhere we turned, there were impeccably dressed people swarming through a seemingly disorganised hotch-potch of street displays and stalls accessed through narrow pathways, offering everything from traditional clothing to electrical goods to a few peppers or onions. And despite the apparent chaos, those smiles and good humour continued to shine through.
The hustle and bustle of the busy market couldn’t have contrasted more than with the relaxed tranquillity of hotel life on offer in The Gambia. We stayed in the serene Coco Ocean, an oasis of calm sitting alongside the golden sand Atlantic Ocean beach, just a couple of miles and a short taxi ride from the main tourist area of Kololi, with its lively strip of restaurants and bars offering alternatives to the laid back resorts. Opened three years ago, the colonial-style five-star spa and hotel complex boasts a range of suites and facilities to cater for guests on a variety of budgets, ranging up to the palatial Presidential Suite, which as its name suggests, has hosted heads of state and celebrities from across Africa
and beyond. Coco Ocean’s striking whitewashed and distinctively domed buildings are spaciously laid out among palm trees and green gardens, creating an oasis of calm for the perfect winter getaway. Coco Ocean has a mixture of open-air and covered restaurants offering the option of eating African, European and Thai cuisine indoors or in the open air, and bars where you can unwind by the pools or fountains, with only the sound of crashing waves to disturb you.
Further afield, the choice offered at the exclusive complex is replicated across The Gambia, which boasts plenty of hotel options to cater for different tastes and varied holiday experiences. A few miles up the coast from the Coco Ocean, the boutique suites at the quaint Ngala Lodge provide a perfect child-free couples’ retreat.
Away from the coast, guests are outnumbered by the cute and fascinating baboons wandering around the exclusive Mandina Lodges in the 1,000-acre Makasutu Forest. Its eight various lodges sit on stilts or float on the water of a tributary of the River Gambia, where visitors get an authentic feel for the African bush and its wildlife.
Taking a leisurely catamaran trip across the river to the north bank, passing the time sunbathing on deck or watching the playful dolphins leaping from the water in front of the boat, you are whisked off to the remote haven of Sitanunku. Here, just five lodges and a small bar and restaurant are set on a picturesque peninsula, providing guests with the ultimate back-to-nature getaway.
Or for those wanting to explore the true Gambia, the delightful Omakan Hotel is hidden away in the small village of Sukutu, where staff are only too happy to provide guests with information needed to see the country. But however you choose to experience this wonderful country, I bet it leaves you smiling.
FACTFILE
The Gambia Experience, based in Whiteley, is the UK’s only specialist and biggest tour operator to The Gambia, operating from Gatwick. Call 0845 330 2087 or visit gambia.co.uk
Coco Ocean Resort & Spa costs from £1,035 per person for a seven-night B&B stay in a junior suite, including flights, hotel transfers and airport taxes.

Happy Holidays

Jon Reeve - Hampshire Chronicle — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia Experience

Tim Metcalfe - Limited Edition - Kent — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Walking along Sanyang beach with my feet in Atlantic surf, I fell into conversation with one of The Gambia’s so-called 'bumsters' – grifters who make a living selling trinkets to tourists. These sort of conversations usually result in an exchange of cash for an item you do not need. And that is exactly what happened here — but in the course of my chat with Kalilu Camara I learned that his dream was to become a teacher and build a school in his village of Sanyang.
Was this a line he spun to all the tourists dropping in to sample the delights of his country, I wondered? Pondering this question later it seemed to me that this young man scraping a living on the beach appeared pretty genuine. As well as wanting cash for his seashells, he also asked if I could send him a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary — once we had shared information about what part of the UK I was visitng from.
The beauty of the palm-fringed beach and the circumstances of young Kalilu summed up the contradictions you may discover on a visit to this still developing West African country. The main tourist season in The Gambia runs from November to April — perfect for getting away from the cold, damp and sometimes snowy UK. Humidity increases between July and October, and the rains arrive from August to September. So visitors can experience luxury accommodation in the tourist hotels while soaking up some guaranteed winter sun.
Coco Ocean — where our party of visiting journalists stayed — is a 'village' style resort right on the beach in the tourist area of Bijilo. Designed using a Moroccan architectural theme, it has a spa, offering all kinds of treatments, several swimming pools, bars and restaurants, with rooms and suites to suit most pockets.
Coco Ocean is billed as The Gambia's most luxurious hotel, and has attracted royal visitors from the Middle East and has proved a wonderful location for weddings with a difference, with couples tying the knot in beautifully appointed marquees on the beach. My suite was decorated Moroccan-style, with an amazingly comfortable bed, essential air-con, and a tiled bathroom with a wet-room style shower. Other suites within the resorts did have baths, should guests prefer one.
Facilities at the top-end hotels, such as the Coco Ocean resort and spa, match anything you would find at European or Caribbean resorts. Restaurants within the resort offered a mix of dishes — making good use of the local fish, while catering for European tastes. Gambia may be a Muslim nation, but the country has its own brewery, producing a fine lager called Julbrew — which became the drink of choice among most of our group. If large resort-style hotels are not your scene, The Gambia also offers many smaller guest houses and intimate boutique hotels, such as the beautiful Omakan in the village of Sukuta, owned by the charming and enthusiastic exmusic producer Peter Vanderhallen, or the elegant Ngala Lodge in Fajara. If you wished, you could spend an enjoyable winter break in the sun without moving away from your hotel. But, by not stepping outside your hotel, you would miss experiencing the colourful, fascinating and sometimes chaotic culture of The Gambia found away from the tourist areas. My trip coincided with the Muslim festival of Tabaski, in commemoration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son, Ismail, in the name of Allah. Every married man or head of household is expected to buy a sheep or other suitable animal for sacrifice.
Tabaski is a massive nationwide barbecue – with visits to the mosque and family celebrations throughout the day. Gambians wear their finest clothes and visit their family and friends. Flocks of goats lined the roadsides and the local markets were packed with people doing last-minute shopping. Imagine our supermarkets on Christmas Eve, add the smells and sounds and bright colours of Africa, and you will get the idea. I experienced the crush first-hand on a bewildering whistle-stop tour of the busy market in the conurbation of Brikama — a labyrinth of stalls and meandering alleyways. You will need the services of a local guide (your travel company will be able to supply details) but this is an experience not to be missed. Stand still long enough amid the bustle and you will also inevitably fall into conversation with friendly passers-by, mostly interested in what you are doing in their country.
English remains the main language of The Gambia, and is taught in schools, so communication is not generally a problem. You can also easily mix a beach resort-style holiday with something a little more adventurous. For example you can get back to nature within the Makasutu Cultural Forest, a 1,000 acre conservation area which is where you will find the Mandina Lodges, a unique eco-resort set in the heart of the Gambian bush. Makasutu was founded by two British men, the late James English and his nephew Lawrence Williams. Originally the well-travelled pair had the idea of setting up a backpackers hostel, but ended up successfully attempting to prevent degradation of the forest by creating a popular tourist destination. Lawrence is also a founder of the Wide Open Walls project, an innovative scheme with has brought street artists to The Gambia.
At Makasutu you can get really close to nature while staying in luxurious lodges, either floating or on stilts over the river or within jungle lodges set back from the water in the bush. The Mandina Lodges have been voted Best Overseas Development Project by the British Guild of Travel Writers. The forest is still home to the indigenous people of the area, who visitors can meet on guided walks through the bush. I enjoyed a trip through the mangroves in a dug-out canoe (known as pirogues) seeing a variety of birds and wildlife. The Gambia has become popular among birdwatchers, with the likes of Autumnwatch presenter Chris Packham leading groups who want to see some of the country's exotic bird life — which includes many species of hornbills, various kingfishers, large and small, plus the fantastic glossy blue starling and some beautiful birds of prey, including the osprey.
While The Gambia may not have big cats or elephants – you will encounter many species of monkey. We were lucky enough to see some rare Western Red Colobus monkeys leaping through palm trees in the Tanji reserve. Fishing is another big attraction for visitors to The Gambia – and a perfect place to base yourself for a trip with rod and line is the new Sitanunku Lodge — a collection of simple (solar-powered) riverside lodges on the north bank of the River Gambia. It will take you a couple of hours to reach Sitanuku by boat. You might be lucky enough — as we were — to see pods of dolphins surfing the bow wave of your boat. Sitanunku is a wonderfully peaceful place, with two pools to relax in and a bar/restaurant area where you can sit in the shade of 400 year-old baobab trees populated, at certain times of the day, by green parrots. The perfect place to sit and write that best-selling novel if you have one in you. But if you are feeling more active you can loan a kayak and explore the river further. Keen anglers visiting The Gambia can hope to catch Cubera Snapper, captain Fish, Barracuda, Lady Fish, Cassava and even large rays. The river around Sitanunku is also home to big Tarpon (upwards of 150kg) which provide a real challenge. Fish is a big part of the local diet and you can enjoy it fresh from the river in the many good restaurants in the Senegambia tourist area. The variety of food on offer was perhaps the thing that surprised me most — you can try local Gambian dishes or go for a combination of European and international menus at the lively restaurants on the Senegambia 'strip'. I tried and enjoyed a Gambian speciality called Benachin — a tasty dish of fish, rice and vegetables.
Of course, The Gambia does have its problems. People are, largely, very poor and climate change could be having an impact on the country. The water table is falling and there are problems with deforestation — which The Gambia Experience is helping to address by supporting environmental management projects in villages where wood is the primary fuel source. But, only six hours away from UK airports, The Gambia provides a great introduction to West Africa, and, if you get hooked, could be the launch-pad for further exploration. Many people return to the country year-after-year, enchanted by the people and the culture. I think I could be one of them.

Blue Sky Thinking

Tim Metcalfe - Oxfordshire Limited Edition — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Normal Service Resumes at Kombo Beach

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The Kombo Beach Hotel is back in full working order following a fire on New Year’s Eve which damaged some of the beachfront public areas. Where appropriate food and beverage services were relocated to other areas within the hotel by New Year’s Day and a comprehensive clean-up operation is well underway. Disruption to hotel guests at the time was kept to a minimum with many holidaymakers praising the hard work of the staff to ensure the continued smooth running of the hotel.

Start your African Adventure Here

Nicola Fairhurst - Kent Messenger — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

THE roar of the Atlantic welcomed me to the Coco Ocean resort & Spa on the Gambian coast. After a relatively short journey from London – the flight is six hours – you can be sipping a sundowner in the West African heat by tea-time, leaving the British winter well and truly behind you.
Gambia has emerged as a winter destination to rival traditional out of season hotspots but it offers more than just sun, sea and sand. The Gambia is one of Africa’s smallest countries, sandwiched in the middle of Senegal and divided by the River Gambia which first attracted the British to its shores. It’s coastline is a sliver of golden sand, lined with palm trees and lush vegetation, the air filled with the sound of exotic birds and the call of monkeys.
My short break was arranged by The Gambia Experience who have been showing visitors the delights of West Africa for 25 years. Their choice of hotels and lodges cater for all tastes and budgets but also bring guests closer to the real Gambia. I was staying at the Coco Ocean, considered the most luxurious hotel in The Gambia. The opulent Moroccan-inspired architecture, with domes, whitewashed walls, and tiered gardens sloping toward the sea, offers guests peace and tranquillity. And if the beach-side cabanas aren’t enough to help you unwind, the spa offers a range of treatments to tempt you away from your sunbed. As it wasn’t my first visit to Africa, I was not surprised that the suites were a little rough round the edges but the facilities, service and enthusiastic staff justify the five-star rating.
The one thing that sets The Gambia apart from its rivals are the people, who are friendly and seem to want to personally welcome every visitor to their country. My tour guide Mucki, with a passion for all things Gambian, was keen to boast of all of the country’s many hidden secrets, from the many species of butterfly, to the rare Western red colobus monkey only found in this part of Africa. We dropped in for lunch at the Mandina Lodges after floating upstream in a hollowed-out canoe and found an oasis in the African bush and a world away from the cold and rain at home. Hidden in the midst of Makasutu Forest, guests are assigned a guide for the duration of their stay to explore the tributaries of the River Gambia by canoe or wander through the forest to spot their nearest neighbours – a troop of baboons.
The following day after my jungle adventure, I travelled by catamaran to Sitanunku Lodge on the north bank of the River Gambia. The simple lodges are nestled under Baobab trees and surrounded by vibrant pink and red flowers, with views of the river. While away an afternoon in the plunge pool, or take to the water as I did on a kayak and paddle around the headland. After working up an appetite on the river, I tucked into seafood tapas and beautifully grilled butterfish. On the return journey down river, dolphins danced under the bows of the boat as the sun set on another day in paradise.
So the secret is out, The Gambia offers more than just winter sun and will be the perfect place to start your African adventure.

Factfile
The Gambia Experience is a trade name of Serenity Holidays, established for 24 years. They are the UK’s only specialist and biggest tour operator to The Gambia, operating year round from Gatwick. Contact: The Gambia Experience Reservations - phone 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk
Coco Ocean Resort & Spa www.gambia.co.uk/cocoocean is exclusive to UK visitors throughThe Gambia Experience. Prices for a seven-night stay start from £1,035 per person (November 28- Dec 11) or £1,097 (April 13-30). Prices include flights, hotel transfers and airport taxes.
Daytime flights with Monarch fly from Gatwick departing on Tuesdays and Fridays during winter 2011/12. All excursions can be booked locally through your representative at the hotel and are operated by West African Tours. The day trip to Sitanunku by catamaran costs £55 per person and includes a BBQ lunch.

Fly south for the winter

Judith Edwards - Reading Chronicle & Bracknell News Christmas Supplement — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Endless sunshine, expansive beaches, gourmet dining, breathtakingly delightful hotels, a palatial spa, wildlife and nature. This is The Gambia and its delights are just a six-hour flight away

Price Match Guarantee for October Bookings

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Specialist tour operator, The Gambia Experience has introduced a Price Match Guarantee*, valid for winter holidays (November 2011 – April 2012) if booked in October 2011. The guarantee means that if a holidaymaker finds the same holiday cheaper anywhere else, The Gambia Experience will match the price. NB: Must be based on same departure date, departure airport, hotel, board basis and room type.

The Gambia Experience is pleased to announce that holiday questionnaire feedback for the winter season 2010/11 has revealed that 95% of its customers said they would return to The Gambia, and 97% of its customers said they would recommend The Gambia Experience to their friends.

For more on The Gambia Experience’s ‘superior holiday service’ and holiday packages for this winter, please visit www.gambia.co.uk or call The Gambia Experience Reservations Department on 0845 330 2087.

* The Price Match Guarantee excludes the Kairaba Hotel for stays over Christmas & New Year.

Small is beautiful on this African adventure

Derek James - Norwich Evening News — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Small is beautiful on this African adventure

In the smallest mainland African country, small really is beautiful. Derek James reports on new resorts in The Gambia, a far cry from the bold and brash all-inclusive hotels which are now dominating the winter sunshine market.

There was a time when many people who visited The Gambia spent most of the time lying on the beach or around the pool with the occasional wander to the bar and the odd excursion into the “bush.” Local culture came from a visit to the hotel by dancers and musicians and a trip to the local market to stock up on African souvenirs. That’s fine but some of you may think that is a crying shame because outside the hotel there is a country which could change your life. Many visitors who did venture outside, meet and make friends with Gambians and discover their way of life, found their own lives taking on a new course. Yes of course there is poverty – this is Africa – but there is also laughter, lots of it, and Gambians are among the most friendly and welcoming people in the world.

The granddaddy of tourism to the Smiling Coast of West Africa is The Gambia Experience which has been sending people there for almost a quarter of a century. They have the biggest and best resort team, led so well by Joyce Stavroulakis, and offer more hotels than any other operator.

Earlier this year I visited the country to take a look at two new resorts on offer for the first time this season and called in at an old favourite. Three very different places to stay which illustrate how this country is reaching out to holidaymakers looking for more than just sun this winter. It may be a little land but it has a big heart.

NGALA LODGE
“Stop!” I said.
The taxi driver, who told me he knew “every inch of my land,” screeched to a halt.
He had been bowling along the coastal highway running towards Cape Point and had driven straight past the modest entrance to Ngala Lodge. It’s not often you get one over on a taxi driver, especially a Gambian one in his own country. “Just checking you knew where it was,” he laughed as we turned around. To be fair this isn’t a glitzy hotel with a flash entrance. It’s a colonial mansion which has been turned into a wonderfulplace to stay – and if you want to relax in stunning surroundings then this is the place for you. There is nowhere else quite like it. A smile and a handshake awaits you at reception and from then on, until the day of departure, they will look after your every need.
Most of the staff have been at the lodge for a long time and many of the guests who return every year, have become a good friends. Staying here is more like being a guest of a wealthy friend rather than staying in a hotel. It is discreet, intimate with a warm and welcoming atmosphere in a perfect position overlooking the mighty Atlantic Ocean. By day you can enjoy the gardens, the pool, or the beach and at night sit on your large balcony enjoying a drink and listening to the waves roll in. There are only 18 rooms. You can stay in one of the suites in the main lodge or in upgraded Manor or Atlantic rooms, with gardens and Jacuzzis. The working town of Bakau, a great place to visit and not spoilt by tourism, is
within walking distance. Oh, and I forget to say the restaurant at Ngala, overlooking the ocean, is one of
the best in the country. View the menus on www.Gambia.co.uk/ngalarestaurant

OMAKAN HOTEL
Most tourist hotels overlook a beach which is fine if that is what you are looking for…but the Omakan, being offered for the first time by The Gambia Experience, is very different. As a guest here you will be surrounded by the real Africa well away from the coastal area packed with tourists. So much thought and care has gone into designing this small, first class hotel, which offers magnificent rooms and facilities. Once again the welcome by owner Peter and his staff is as warm as the weather. They will meet you at the airport and take you straight to the Omakan, in Sukuta, a place they are all so proud of. It is made up of 15 beautiful suites clustered around a swimming pool. It oozes style and sophistication. You will be staying a couple of miles inland but all around are the sights and sounds of Africa and the staff and the locals are only too pleased to show you their country, their customs and traditions. Be warned – it’s a way of life you could fall in love with and you know what that
means: you’ll be back.

FACTFILE
The Gambia Experience offers year round flights to the Gambia, with twice weekly departures from Gatwick during the winter enabling popular 10 and 11 night holidays – ideal for twin centre stays.
Prices for a seven night holiday staying at the luxury boutique hotel, Ngala Lodge cost from £982pp, based on two sharing an air-conditioned room on bed & breakfast, inclusive of flights and inflight meals, hotel transfers and airport taxes.
Prices for a three night add-on stay at Sitanunku Lodge will cost from £295pp or, for a three night add-on-stay at Omakan Hotel – prices cost from £199pp.
Both three night add-on packages include half board accommodation and hotel transfers. The company also offers other hotels to suit all tastes and pockets in The Gambia and neighbouring Senegal.
Visit www.gambia.co.uk or call 0845 330 4567.

Our friends in The Gambia

Derek James - Let's Talk Magazine — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Our friends in the Gambia
More winter sunshine hotspots are offering big and bold 5* all inclusive deals in large hotels but in the smallest mainland African country, small really is beautiful. Derek James reports from The Gambia.
There was a time when many people who visited The Gambia spent most of the time lying on the beach or around the pool with the occasional wander to the bar and the odd excursion into the “bush.” Local culture came from a visit to the hotel by dancers and musicians and a trip to the local market to stock up on African souvenirs. That’s fine but some of you may think that is a crying shame because outside the hotel there is a country which could change your life. Many visitors who did venture outside, meet and make friends with Gambians and discover their way of life, found their own lives taking on a new course. Yes of course there is poverty – this is Africa – but there is also laughter, lots of it, and Gambians are among the most friendly and welcoming people in the world.

Small country, big welcome

Derek James - Eastern Daily Press — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

SMALL COUNTRY, BIG WELCOME

More winter sunshine hotspots are offering big and bold 5* all inclusive deals in large hotels but in the smallest mainland African country, small really is beautiful. Derek James reports from The Gambia.

There was a time when many people who visited The Gambia spent most of the time lying on the beach or around the pool with the occasional wander to the bar and the odd excursion into the “bush.” Local culture came from a visit to the hotel by dancers and musicians and a trip to the local market to stock up on African souvenirs. That’s fine but some of you may think that is a crying shame because outside the hotel there is a country which could change your life. Many visitors who did venture outside, meet and make friends with Gambians and discover their way of life, found their own lives taking on a new course. Yes of course there is poverty – this is Africa – but there is also laughter, lots of it, and Gambians are among the most friendly and welcoming people in the world.

The granddaddy of tourism to the Smiling Coast of West Africa is The Gambia Experience which has been sending people there for almost a quarter of a century. They have the biggest and best resort team, led so well by Joyce Stavroulakis, and offer more hotels than any other operator.

Earlier this year I visited the country to take a look at two new resorts on offer for the first time this season and called in at an old favourite. Three very different places to stay which illustrate how this country is reaching out to holidaymakers looking for more than just sun this winter. It may be a little land but it has a big heart.

NGALA LODGE
“Stop!” I said.
The taxi driver, who told me he knew “every inch of my land,” screeched to a halt.
He had been bowling along the coastal highway running towards Cape Point and had driven straight past the modest entrance to Ngala Lodge. It’s not often you get one over on a taxi driver, especially a Gambian one in his own country. “Just checking you knew where it was,” he laughed as we turned around. To be fair this isn’t a glitzy hotel with a flash entrance. It’s a colonial mansion which has been turned into a wonderfulplace to stay – and if you want to relax in stunning surroundings then this is the place for you. There is nowhere else quite like it. A smile and a handshake awaits you at reception and from then on, until the day of departure, they will look after your every need.
Most of the staff have been at the lodge for a long time and many of the guests who return every year, have become a good friends. Staying here is more like being a guest of a wealthy friend rather than staying in a hotel. It is discreet, intimate with a warm and welcoming atmosphere in a perfect position overlooking the mighty Atlantic Ocean. By day you can enjoy the gardens, the pool, or the beach and at night sit on your large balcony enjoying a drink and listening to the waves roll in. There are only 18 rooms. You can stay in one of the suites in the main lodge or in upgraded Manor or Atlantic rooms, with gardens and Jacuzzis. The working town of Bakau, a great place to visit and not spoilt by tourism, is
within walking distance. Oh, and I forget to say the restaurant at Ngala, overlooking the ocean, is one of
the best in the country. View the menus on www.Gambia.co.uk/ngalarestaurant

SITANUNKU LODGE
“Take the wheel,” said Marcel as the speed boat almost flew through the waters of the mighty River Gambia. I hadn’t got the heart to tell him I hadn’t even got a driving licence and hadn’t been behind the wheel of a car for more than 30 happy years. But I took the wheel and as we twisted and turned around the arteries of this great African river with the water spraying our faces, I was really stating to enjoy myself. I was on our way back to “civilisation” from an all-too-short visit to the Sitanunku Lodge, the first tourist lodge on the North Bank of the river most of tourism has turned its back on. The most many tourists see of this river is a day trip, such as Roots, but now you can stay in one of the five lodges built by Marcel and his team overlooking the river near Dog Island. This is thoughtful eco-friendly tourism involving the local community and it provides many of them with much needed work. The lodges themselves are a joy to stay in and you have the river on your doorstep. You can canoe or fish, go bird-watching or explore the local village. And there is a plunge pool with fabulousviews next to the bar and restaurant where the freshly cooked food is delicious.
Leave Gatwick in the morning and by early evening you could be sitting outside your lodge. It’s that close. Just an hour’s journey by road and boat from Banjul Airport, less than six hours from Gatwick. And it is extremely good value…for a holiday like no other head for Sitanunku.

OMAKAN HOTEL
Most tourist hotels overlook a beach which is fine if that is what you are looking for…but the Omakan, being offered for the first time by The Gambia Experience, is very different. As a guest here you will be surrounded by the real Africa well away from the coastal area packed with tourists. So much thought and care has gone into designing this small, first class hotel, which offers magnificent rooms and facilities. Once again the welcome by owner Peter and his staff is as warm as the weather. They will meet you at the airport and take you straight to the Omakan, in Sukuta, a place they are all so proud of. It is made up of 15 beautiful suites clustered around a swimming pool. It oozes style and sophistication. You will be staying a couple of miles inland but all around are the sights and sounds of Africa and the staff and the locals are only too pleased to show you their country, their customs and traditions. Be warned – it’s a way of life you could fall in love with and you know what that
means: you’ll be back.

FACTFILE

The Gambia Experience offers the widest choice of year round flights to the Gambia, with twice weekly departures from Gatwick during the winter enabling populat10 and 11 night holidays – ideal for twin centre stays.
Prices for a seven night holiday staying at the luxury boutique hotel, Ngala Lodge cost from £982pp, based on two sharing an air-conditioned room on bed & breakfast, inclusive of flights and inflight meals, hotel transfers and airport taxes.
Prices for a three night add-on stay at Sitanunku Lodge will cost from £295pp or, for a three night add-on-stay at Omakan Hotel – prices cost from £199pp.
Both three night add-on packages include half board accommodation and hotel transfers. The company also offers a host of other hotels to suit all tastes and pockets in The Gambia and neighbouring Senegal including a number of mix and match deals.
Visit www.gambia.co.uk or call 0845 330 4567.

DID YOU KNOW?
Gambia is surrounded by big brother Senegal – another fascinating African country and one well worth visiting. The Gambia Experience offers a number of two-centre holidays including a brilliant Rivers of West Africa Cruise and stay tour. Pick up a brochure or see their website for details.

Nyodema Fifth Festival Fundraising Success

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Nyodema’s fifth annual festival - organised by Kathryn Burrington from The Gambia Experience and her friends - was 'a great day of diverse and inspiring music' according to festival goer Kevin Short.

An array of artists entertained the crowd at Nyodema's World Music and Arts Festival held last Saturday [20 August 2011] at The Waverley on Bognor¹s seafront.

The day started on the verandah with rock n roll from Slim Jim and the Wildcards against a back drop of blue skies and the glistening sea. A variety of musical genres followed including Slim Lightfoot¹s delta blues, a guest appearance by two Gambian drummers, the beautiful voice of Daisy Mouatt, medieval/Spanish guitar from Claude Bourbon, the West African rhythms of the Nyodema Drummers, and songs from around the world including traditional gospel and a spine-tingling Baka chant from the Nyodema World Community Choir. Morgana Villen Castro performed a stunning fusion of flamenco and belly-dancing, as well as holding a popular workshop. The children¹s percussion workshop led by Chris Diallo from Hands on Skin brought out some fabulous young talent.

"Nyodema's choir and drumming group is going from strength to strength. The weekly workshops held here in Bognor have proved a great success and both groups thoroughly enjoyed performing to such a receptive audience. New members are always welcome and no experience is necessary." said Geraldine Allchurch, the choir's director.

The evening's entertainment in the function room had everyone up and dancing. "What a great vibe - the whole day - then capped with Rattlin' Bone's feel from 'The Big Easy' ending perfectly with reggae from Planetman and the Internationalz!" said Stewart Nicol, compere for the day.

The raffle, stalls, workshops and donations collected throughout the day raised over £1,000. These funds will be used to provide children with insecticide treated mosquito nets and to continue developing the school in Dairuharu that Nyodema has built (with the assistance of the charity Karmic Angels) in The Gambia, one of Africa's poorest countries.

"Nyodema would like to thank The Waverley and their staff, the ROX charity for the loan of equipment, all the artists, volunteers and sponsors, including The Gambia Experience, and everyone who contributed to making this a really wonderful day" said Nyodema treasurer, Shelagh Hamilton.

For more information, please visit www.nyodema.org or call Kathryn on 07974 472 137.

Early Booking Offers - Book by 31 July

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Early Booking Offers for Winter 2011/2012 - Valid if Booked by 31 July 2011
Sample Early Booking Offers include………

The Unique Collection Winter Offer (save £75 per person)
www.gambia.co.uk/omakan
www.gambia.co.uk/sitanunku
The Gambia Experience is offering discounts of £75 per person on two properties within its new ‘Unique Collection’: Omakan Hotel in Sukuta and Sitanunku Lodge on the North Bank of the River Gambia. The discount is available on 3, 4 or 7 night holidays throughout winter 11/12*. Inclusive of the discount, 7-night holidays (based on two sharing) start from £823pp (Omakan, b&b) and £1069pp (Sitanunku, half board), including return flights**, taxes and transfers.

The Luxury Collection December Offer (save £133pp per week)
www.gambia.co.uk/ngala
The Gambia Experience is offering a Free Upgrade from a Standard Suite to a Manor Suite for guests staying at the boutique Ngala Lodge near Bakau - part of the tour operator’s Luxury Collection – during the period 02 - 23 December 2011.
7-night holidays at Ngala Lodge (inclusive of the discount) start from £982pp. Price is based on two sharing with breakfast and includes return flights**, taxes and transfers.

Premium Class Flights Offer (save £50pp)
The Gambia Experience is offering savings of £50 per person on its Premium Class Tuesday flights from London Gatwick – Banjul throughout the winter*. Inclusive of the discount, a 7-night return Premium Class flight ticket starts from £245pp.

These offers exclude stays over Christmas & New Year and cannot be combined with any other offers except a loyalty discount (if applicable) and are subject to availability.

For all of the above offers, call The Gambia Experience Reservations Dept on 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk

* The winter season runs from 01 November 2011 – 30 April 2012.
** Flights are available from London Gatwick and Manchester.

NEW: The Gambia Experience 2011/12 Brochure

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Independent tour operator, The Gambia Experience launches its November 2011 – October 2012 brochure this month. The brochure again incorporates sister company The Senegal Experience due to an increasing number of customers choosing multi-centre holidays (within either destination or across both). With 24 years experience, The Gambia Experience and The Senegal Experience offer the UK market the widest range of flight and hotel options to West Africa. The strong selling ‘Luxury Collection’ is presented for both The Gambia and Senegal, and includes exclusive hotels, and those complete with spa facilities. Highlights of the new brochure include:

New - The Unique Collection
The Gambia Experience ‘Unique Collection’ is new to the 2011/12 brochure. Featuring lodges and boutique hotels located away from the main tourist areas, the selected properties bring guests closer to the culture, people and wildlife of The Gambia. Sharing many characteristics of the Luxury Collection, but with a sense of relaxed indulgence, there are four properties to choose from: The Mandina Lodges at Makasutu; Sandele Eco Retreat in Kartong, and NEW for this season, Omakan Hotel in Sukuta and Sitanunku Lodge on the North Bank of the River Gambia.

Re-opening of 5* Lamantin Beach Hotel, Saly
Offering its own private white sand beach, marina, spa, and renowned for its gourmet cuisine, the 5* Lamantin Beach Hotel in Senegal has long been considered the most luxurious hotel in Saly.
This year (2011) the hotel has been closed for major refurbishment, but is due to re-open at the end of the year, when it will boast a new Beach Club complete with à la carte restaurant, fitness centre, and floodlit tennis courts.

New - Rivers of West Africa Cruise departing from Banjul
For the second winter running, The Gambia Experience / Senegal Experience - in collaboration with Variety Cruises - will offer the Rivers of West Africa cruise aboard the MY Pegasus. In addition to the nine-night itinerary departing from Dakar, including 2 nights at a Dakar hotel, there is now the option of a five-night cruise departing from Banjul. The cruise offers an alternative way to explore the region, all from the comfort of a 23-cabin mega yacht, complemented by optional inland excursions.

Chris Packham Birdwatching Tour
BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham will once again lead his annual birdwatching tour for The Gambia Experience in February 2012. With a maximum of 17 places on the trip, there is ample opportunity to learn from Chris’ extensive knowledge of wildlife, as well as photography. The tour breaks down into two three-day itineraries, available to book separately or together, with the supplement starting from £345 per person.
Additional birdwatching tours can be booked with Gambian guide Malick Suso – Chris Packham’s ‘local’ guide of choice.

Additional All-Inclusive & Dining Options
The introduction of all-inclusive holidays continues to prove successful in The Gambia and Senegal with additional hotels now offering all-inclusive upgrade options, as well as a variety of dining packages.
Also, from this winter - in addition to rooms and suites - the popular 3.5* Kombo Beach Hotel in Kotu will also offer ground floor studios, complete with kitchenette and living area.

Sustainable Tourism Update
The Gambia Experience is accredited with 5-star AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators) Sustainable Tourism status - the highest level possible. The Gambia Experience’s own registered charity - the School Development Fund established in 1989 - continues to support school projects within The Gambia, and as of 2011, has also set up its own school partnership scheme twinning UK and Gambian schools.

Early Booking Offers – Book by 31 July 2011
A number of Early Booking Offers are available, valid for November 2011 – April 2012 holidays, booked by 31 July 2011. These include £150pp savings; free suite upgrades at Ngala Lodge; twin-centre savings and discounts on Tuesday London Gatwick – Banjul Premium Class flights. Please contact The Gambia Experience / Senegal Experience for full details and conditions.

This season, The Gambia Experience offers 7-night holidays from £525 per person (based on b&b); The Senegal Experience from £979 per person (based on half board). Unique / Luxury Collection holidays start from £898 per person (The Gambia, b&b) and £1184 (Senegal, half board) - all including flights & transfers. For more information, please call The Gambia Experience Reservations Dept on 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk or call The Senegal Experience Reservations Dept on 0845 338 8706 or visit www.senegal.co.uk

School Charity Day Success - over £600 raised for gambian classroom

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Specialist tour operator, The Gambia Experience [part of Serenity Holidays] held a fancy-dress ‘School Charity Day’ last Friday (20 May) in order to raise money for its own registered charity, ‘The School Development Fund’.

A total of £618.50 was raised (£118.50 by staff and a contribution of £500 from directors) with the specific aim of supporting the Kitty Upper Basic School in The Gambia, in particular the completion of its school roof prior to the onset of the rainy season.

Staff and management at the Serenity Holidays Hampshire office were asked to come dressed as a school pupil, teacher or dinner lady. Throughout the day staff enjoyed homemade biscuits, egg & spoon races, guess the member of staff from the Serenity School Photo competition, and the unlucky few also experienced a five-minute detention!

Kathy Burrington - graphic designer at Serenity Holidays and member of the School Development Fund committee - who posed as ‘Headmistress’ for the day, commented:
“Immense fun was had by everyone last Friday. Above all, we are delighted to have made a difference to our most recent school project in The Gambia – Kitty Upper Basic School. We have now raised enough money to complete the outstanding building works, as well as carry some across to the next school which needs our help.”

For more information on The Gambia Experience, visit www.gambia.co.uk as well as www.thegambiablog.co.uk and on its School Development Fund - established in 1989, and now having assisted over 100 school projects across The Gambia - visit www.schooldevelopmentfund.org
To view Serenity Holidays staff enjoying the School Charity Day, please see The Gambia Experience Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/GambiaExperience

The secrets of magic at Ngala Lodge

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Guests staying at the boutique Ngala Lodge in The Gambia this May will be able to enjoy some magic over dinner and also pick up tips on how to do some tricks of their own.

Magician Mr Celsius will be performing his magic at Ngala Lodge from 13th to 20th May, sharing the secrets of a few of his tricks. Find out more about Mr Celsius and watch some videos of his television work at www.Celsiusmagic.nl

A week at the luxurious Ngala Lodge from 10th-17th May is currently discounted to £699 per person, a saving of £105pp. A week from 17th-24th May costs £799 per person. These prices include return flights from Gatwick, transfers, twin bed & breakfast accommodation, in-flight meals, 20 kg luggage allowance, Air Passenger Duty and Government Tourist Levy.

An eye-opening introduction to Africa

Oliver Smith - The Daily Telegraph — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

My taxi driver, Katim, led me into the front room of his home on the edge of Serrekunda, Gambia's largest city. Twenty chairs were arranged in a horseshoe, each facing the property's most prized possessions: an ancient-looking television and a battered wireless perched on a creaking credenza. My arrival caught the attention of three cheeky youngsters. They rushed towards the doorway to greet me, their shrieks of delight disturbing the silence of the home and the slumber of older relatives napping in adjacent rooms.
Soon I was sitting in a courtyard enjoying the afternoon sunshine with a coterie of aunts, great aunts, nieces and nephews – a space we shared with a skinny heifer, a clutch of chickens and a tethered goat. A matriarchal figure stirred a mighty pan of couscous as it warmed over an open fire. A baby in a brightly coloured sling clung to her back.
The children begged me to take their pictures. They craned their necks to see the results on my digital camera. I asked the eldest to take a picture of Katim and myself. Another photograph for his album.
It's not often I accept an offer of late lunch from a taxi driver, but a day spent with Katim, and a week in Gambia, had made me less suspicious than I am in London.
I hadn't envisaged this scenario three months previously, when my girlfriend, Sophie, and I decided on a trip to this tiny strip of West Africa.
Whereas Sophie looks for nothing more in a holiday than some sun-scorched stretch of sand in which to disappear into a decent novel and – ideally – five-star accommodation, I crave distraction. Here, six hours from a sodden Gatwick, was the perfect compromise. With April temperatures in excess of 86F (30C) and good beaches, she could unwind while I explored monkey-filled forests, meandering wetlands and a sleepy Third World capital.
But our research also unearthed off-putting warnings about sex tourism (Gambia is considered a place where middle-aged ladies can meet muscular and willing young men) and "bumsters" – locals who tout themselves as holiday guides.
Informing friends and family of our decision, we were greeted by raised eyebrows. "Do take care of yourself," urged my grandmother. After all, wasn't this the country where Britons suspected of criticising the government were sentenced to hard labour and whose head of state claimed he can cure Aids by administering banana extracts to the patient's chest?
We chose to take the risk. Steer clear of the bumsters, avoid denouncing the establishment, and we would get on just fine.
Sophie's fears were forgotten within five minutes of our arrival at the hotel. Once "cheap and cheerful", Gambian accommodation has improved, and the Coco Ocean Resort and Spa can only be termed luxurious. We were whisked by golf buggy past fountains and manicured gardens to a cool, airy suite overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. In the fading light, we spotted lizards scuttling from the undergrowth and egrets stalking through the grass in search of one last edible insect.
The following morning we claimed two sunloungers beside the hotel's infinity pool – a spot that became Sophie's command centre for the duration of the holiday.
To read the remainder of this feature, click to view the online version.

Welcome to the jungle

Lynn Storey-Smith - Essex Chronicle — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Just a six hour flight from Gatwick, the smallest country on mainland Africa offers a sub-tropical climate, cultural experience and a warm welcome. What’s more, there’s no time difference from the UK so there’s no jetlag making even a week’s stay in The Gambia, a relaxing option for a quick fix of winter sun.
They call it the Smiling Coast of Africa and yes, it might be a slick marketing phrase dreamed up by the tourism authority, but nevertheless, it’s an accurate description.
A walk along the beach or just from my room through the gardens to the hotel reception never passed without a cheerful greeting: “Hello, how are you? What do think of The Gambia?” Soon I discovered that this sunny disposition wasn’t confined to the coastal, tourist areas around Kombo Beach Hotel where I spent four nights; the further we went off the beaten track, the greater the enthusiasm and the bigger the smiles.
As our 4x4 safari truck lurched its way down dusty, rutted tracks and we tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to dodge the branches of the cashew trees lashing out at us through the open sides, crowds of children appeared and ran alongside waving and calling out to us. Adults too, stopped and greeted us politely and it became obvious that hospitality is as deeply ingrained in the Gambian culture as is the refreshing scent of wild mint in the fertile Gambian countryside.
When we climbed down from the truck we were in Makasutu Forest, a wonderful ecological and cultural project, where we met up with its joint founder, Englishman, Lawrence Williams who first came to The Gambia in 1992. His original plan to build a surf camp on the beach was scrapped when he realised that despite the Atlantic Ocean edging the coastline, there’s no real surf.
He was travelling around the country with his business partner, James English, when they came across Makasutu which means Holy Forest and decided to buy four acres of land on a bend in the river with the idea of building a small lodge for back-packers. As we glided along the river in a small boat, he explained how this modest venture grew. “We went to the UK for a couple of months and when we arrived back we found that about 200 palm trees had been cut down on the land surrounding ours,” he said. “We met with the tribal owners of the land and they suggested that if we wanted to protect the area, we could buy it and fence it all off. That’s how our four acres became the 1,750 we now look after!” Our boat passed by two of the lodges now on offer to tourists here in Makasutu. All built with local materials, the Mandina Lodges number just eight in total, some set back from the river and some floating on the water or raised over it on stilts. As part of a twin centre holiday, you can opt to spend three or more days in the tranquil setting of Mandina just relaxing by the pool, birdwatching, fishing or exploring the forest where as I discovered first hand, you can unexpectedly come across a family of baboons.
More than 15 years of hard work dedicated to protecting the forest and the surrounding Ballabu area has resulted in widespread recognition and several prestigious eco-tourism awards for Lawrence and James. The latest venture to come to fruition was the focus of our trip downstream. From October 12 to 26 last year, just a few days before our arrival, the Wide Open Walls project had turned the village of Kubuneh into a work of art created by eight of the world’s leading street artists working in cooperation with the community. As I hopped off the boat and balanced precariously on a narrow log to reach the sandy riverbank, the first images came into view. Standing in the shade of a tree and taking care not to walk on any of the tiny crabs busily digging in and popping out of the muddy sand, I could make out an animal, possibly an antelope, painted on the wall.
A fan of graffiti and a keen artist himself, Lawrence went to art college before studying architecture then film and television set design at university. “About a year ago, I sent a late-night beer-inspired email to the website of one of my favourite artists, Eelus, telling him about the idea I had to turn a Gambian village into a living art project,” said Lawrence. Eelus replied and got behind it, taking part and helping to bring the vision to reality.
Our arrival in the village caused some excitement among the children especially when one of my companions produced a packet of mints. They walked with us as we discovered art on the walls of buildings including homes and the school, and even on trees. Figures and faces, lettering. landscapes, abstract patterns, birds, animals, and strange human/animal hybrids were all portrayed in a variety of styles.
Now the aim is to turn the Wide Open Walls project into an annual event encouraging art enthusiasts to watch the work in progress at another of the local villages. There are also plans to run excursions in the area including a tour of Kubuneh with an entrance fee so the village will benefit directly.
For tourists who want to explore beyond the confines of their hotel, there are numerous excursions which offer the
opportunity to see more of the country while benefiting the local population. Our excursions were organised by West African Tours whose guide Mucki provided us with a great insight into the culture and customs and imparted his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Gambian whenever the chance arose.
Our four wheel drive adventure included visits to a primary school where we learned about the education system and were entertained by the children singing, then to a compound where saw how a typical extended family lives and farms the land. Lunch was a barbecue served at a beach bar on a wide sandy beach miles from the tourist
areas, followed by a swim in the ocean or a snooze in a hammock. Now that’s relaxation.
Factfile
The writer was a guest of The Gambia Experience. Accommodation was at the Kombo Beach Hotel, a 4
grade hotel ( www. gambia.co.uk/kombo). Excursions are bookable locally with West African Tours through hotel reps. For more details and other hotel options, call The Gambia Experience on 0845
330 2087 or visit www. gambia.co.uk

Rivers of West Africa cruise feature

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Read about the Rivers of West Africa cruise and see some great images of what to expect. Free Press Travel writer Ellen Creager has written an account of her experience on the Rivers of West Africa cruise which starts in Dakar and travels through the Sine Saloum Delta and up the River Gambia.

In her article in the Detroit Free Press she talks about visiting Janjangbureh, a village school and Baboon Islands and there are some great shots of the ship and also some of the sights: the monkeys, birds, people and sunset over the river. If you’re interested in the cruise it’s well worth taking a look http://www.freep.com/article/20110320/FEATURES07/103200336/1004/NEWS02/Cruise-line-sends-yacht-up-Gambia-River-toward-home-Roots-hero?odyssey=nav%7Chead

The next cruise departs in December 2011 and will also operate in January, February and March 2012. For details of the itinerary and prices see http://www.senegal.co.uk/Hotel/19000398/51696/Rivers-of-West-Africa-Cruise.aspx?Booking=false

Cheap flights to The Gambia

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

There are some great flight only prices to Banjul, The Gambia in the next few weeks worth highlighting.

The cheapest return flights from Gatwick to Banjul depart on 8th April and cost £399 per person for either 7 or 14 night durations. The cheapest return flight from Manchester to Banjul departs on 13th April and costs £349 return for a 7 night duration. The cheapest one way flight departs from Gatwick on 6th May and costs £149.

For all the latest flight offers see http://www.gambia.co.uk/Docs/Special-Offers/Flight-Only.aspx

Prices are per person and include inflight meals, airport taxes and luggage allowance of 20 kilograms from Gatwick in May and Manchester. Luggage allowance of 25 kilograms for Gatwick departures in April.

There is a £10 TOD charge for bookings made within 7 days of departure. Flight prices can change and some departures are already full.

Sheraton Gambia turning out the lights for Earth Hour

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The Sheraton Gambia Hotel in Brufut will be turning out their lights on Saturday to take part in the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF’s) Earth Hour which is recognised all around the world. The event aims to raise environmental awareness internationally – in 2010 a record 128 countries took part. Earth Hour will take place at 8.30pm (GMT) on Saturday 26th March 2011.

You can view some great images of last year’s event, including world landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Paris; Trafalgar Square, London; Table Mountain, Cape Town; and the Empire State Building, New York. Go online at http://www.earthhour.org/mediasite/imageresults.aspx?category=Archive&country=&date=&keyword=&page=1

Gambians return home from Libya

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Last week more than 500 Gambians returned to The Gambia from Libya. Flights chartered by the Gambian Government arrived at Banjul International Airport on Thursday, Friday and Saturday carrying 164, 175 and 172 nationals respectively. Apparently another three charter flights are due to return more Gambians home safely in the coming days.

Children’s book raises money for schools in The Gambia

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Author Neil Griffiths marked last week’s World Book Day by reading his new children’s book ‘Fatou Fetch The Water’ to a group of pupils at Swindon Library. The book is about a girl in The Gambia and at least 10% of the money from book sales will be donated to schools in The Gambia and to a charity run by Neil – Starfish Malaria Project which provides malaria nets to families in The Gambia.

Fatou Fetch The Water has been nominated for a Dundee picture book prize. Order a copy online at http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=fatou+fetch+the+water&tag=mh0a9-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=24180729&ref=pd_sl_72etej2gwq_e

Find out more about Starfish Malaria Project at http://www.cornertolearn.co.uk/starfish-malaria-project.html

St James Island renamed Kunta Kinteh Island

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

During last month’s International Roots Festival in The Gambia, the Island of St James (James Island) was renamed Kunta Kinteh Island to recognise the historical significance of the island.

The island is situated in the River Gambia, 30 kilometres from the coast, and is home to the ruins of a fort used to hold slaves before their journey across the Atlantic. The area is mentioned in the book “Roots” by Alex Haley as the home of his great great Grandfather Kunta Kinteh (or Kunta Kinte) who was taken to America as a slave. Tourists can now take boat trips to the region to James Island, the ancestral home village of Juffure and the village of slavery. For more details about the excursion see http://www.gambia.co.uk/Docs/Gambia-Holidays/Excursions/Roots.aspx

Birdwatching with Malick Suso

Ron Toft - The Travel Editor.com — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia is one of the nearest and most accessible of all African countries for UK-based bird-loving tourists who want to sample some of this continent's diverse avian delights but spend less than seven hours aboard a plane.

Getting there is not a problem, thanks to the regular, direct service offered by The Gambia Experience. But how does the first-time or infrequent visitor know where to go and what to see without wasting valuable time?

When I last visited The Gambia, shortly before Christmas 2010, I had just three days to see some of the special birds that make their home in this ultra-friendly, English-speaking country, so I needed to hit the ground running. Thanks to The Gambia Experience, I was placed in the capable hands of professional bird guide Malick Suso - a Lenny Henry sort of guy who never stops smiling.

I knew that Malick came highly recommended. In fact, TV wildlife presenter Chris Packham often uses him when birding in The Gambia. According to Chris, Malick is "one hell of a birder," and has been "a fantastic asset to every trip I've made there." I would wholeheartedly agree.

Malick's knowledge of birds is nothing short of breathtaking. He can see more with his battered pair of binoculars, only one eyepiece of which works, than I can with the two eyepieces of my new, top-of-the-range bins. What's more, he can pick up the slightest tweet, warble or whistle and instantly identify the bird making the sound. Within just a few hours, I was in awe of the man.

Malick, who not only works for The Gambia experience but also offers a range of birding packages himself, has been watching birds since he left school. He was ‘trained' by his uncle - one of The Gambia's foremost authorities on birds. Malick, who says he is "deeply concerned for the environmental welfare" of his country but recognises "that conservation needs to generate an income for the local communities to be sustainable."

My birdwatching experience began before I had even left the airport in Banjul. While waiting for the coach to transport me to The Karaiba Hotel, I spotted cattle egrets, hornbills and several long-tailed/heavy-billed birds called piapiacs. The early bird, it is said, catches the worm, and that is certainly the case as far as birdwatching is concerned. If you want to see lots of birds, especially normally elusive ones, you need to rise early before other people are about. That meant, in The Gambia at least, rising at 5 am to be ready for a 6 am departure.

I and several other birdwatchers (not necessarily the same ones every day) were taken to six birdwatching hotspots during the three days: Abuko Nature Reserve, Kotu Stream, Tanji Bird Reserve, Brufut Woods, Makasatu River and associated jungle, and Kachikally Crocodile Pool and nearby rice fields. We went out in the morning for several hours, returning for lunch. After resting, swimming or shopping (I did yet more birdwatching in the hotel grounds), we gathered again in late afternoon for another two or three hours with Malick.

The number and range of birds we spotted was truly incredible - everything from vultures, herons, egrets, ibises, plovers, sandpipers and truly stunning rollers to various kingfishers (including the giant), iridescent sunbirds, gorgeous bee-eaters, well-hidden owls, shrikes, orioles, bulbuls, flycatchers, waxbills, firefinches, barbets, terns and cuckoos. My favourite birds? Probably the African harrier-hawk, Senegal coucal and yellow-crowned gonolek.

At the end of three days, I felt I had known Malick for years and very much regretted having to leave. I wasn't going home, though - simply across the Gambia River and into neighbouring Senegal for another birdwatching experience. My wanderings there will be the subject of another article.

Useful Information
I travelled with specialist tour operator The Gambia Experience (reservations 0845 330 2087, www.gambia.co.uk) whose seven-night holidays at the five-grade Kairaba Hotel in Kololi start from £799 per person (Dec 2010 prices). This price is based on two people sharing a deluxe room on a B&B basis and includes return flights from London Gatwick, taxes and transfers. Malick Suso Three-Day Birdwatching Tours start from £175 per person. This cost is added to the holiday price.

The Gambia Experience has been operating in The Gambia for more than 20 years and has always offered birdwatching excursions, as well as working with specialist birdwatching companies providing fully-escorted tours. In 2008 the company began offering its own tours with Chris Packham. "These proved very popular," said Gambia Experience product manager Karen Durham, "leading us to add on a secondary Chris Packham tour option, incorporating accommodation at the award-winning Mandina Lodges at Makasatu (a haven for wildlife)." In 2010 The Gambia Experience introduced three additional birdwatching tours with Malick Suso. "I am confident we will continue to see the interest in birdwatching increase over the next few years," added Karen.

Malick Suso can be contacted directly at malicksuso@hotmail.com
Also go to http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/Malick_Suso.htm

A good field guide is essential and one of the best is Birds of The Gambia and Senegal by Clive Barlow and Tim Wacher (published by Christopher Helm, an imprint of A & C Black) at £24.99 in paperback.

Celebrating 20 years of supporting The Gambia Fire & Rescue Service

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The founder of a UK charity, Gambia and Avon Fire Services in Partnership (GAFSIP), has travelled to The Gambia to celebrate the country’s Independence Day on 18th February and mark 20 years of the Partnership. David Hutchings, who is Patron of GAFSIP, founded the charity after witnessing a fatal road accident whilst holidaying in The Gambia in 1991. He has been travelling to the West African country regularly ever since and working hard to provide equipment and training for The Gambia Fire & Rescue Service – to date over 40 fire engines as well as other vital equipment have been sent from Avon to The Gambia. To find out more about the charity and how you can help visit http://www.avonfire.gov.uk/Avon/About+us/Charity+-+GAFSIP/

Gambia Celebrates Independence Day

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

On 18th February The Gambia will celebrate its Independence Day. The Gambia officially gained independence from Britain in 1965 after 300 years of colonial rule. The day is a national holiday in The Gambia and across the world Gambians will be marking the occasion.

The event is usually celebrated in front of President Jammeh in McCarthy Square in The Gambia’s capital Banjul with a parade by school children, teachers, civil servants and the army.

Where the sun never sleeps

Katie McGonagle - East Anglia Suffolk Life Magazine — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Beautiful beaches, glorious sunshine, foods to suit every taste and a bit of culture thrown in to boot –what’s not to like about the Gambia?

More and more tourists are flocking to this hidden gem of Africa every year seeking a bit of winter sunshine at a price that won’t break the bank balance. And whether it’s the lure of a jungle adventure or a crash course in African culture – or simply lying on the beach with a cocktail and a good book – the country has everything you could ask for.

We flew into Banjul, the capital and site of the only international airport, and in no time at all, we were on a white sand beach in Kotu, in the northern tip of the country.

The Gambia’s popularity has skyrocketed with British holiday-makers in recent years and it’s not hard to see why. English is spoken everywhere – a leftover of its colonial history – and it is in the same timezone as the UK which, with its short sixhour flight, means jet lag isn’t an issue.

And as tourism grows in popularity, so too does the number of activities on offer. We particularly enjoyed a four wheel drive adventure, stopping in some of the villages to see palm wine tappers and cashew nut pickers at work, and a drive through the African bush to see monkeys, baboons and numerous species of brightly-coloured birds. These tours can be a bit hair-raising – the Gambia has only two main roads, with the rest of the trip taking place on bumpy dirt tracks which certainly weren’t for the fainthearted – but well worth it to get out of the tourist district and see a bit more of the real country.

There are some highlights, which simply can’t be missed. We got the chance to visit a Gambian school and speak to some of the children, and they even treated us to a performance of traditional African songs. And a visit to fishing village Tanji in the Western Division gave us an incredible insight into the lives of the locals, as we saw fish caught in long boats and smoked it right there on the beach.

Be prepared though – there is real poverty in some parts of the country, with about 70 per cent of the population living in mud brick houses roofed with elephant grass.

The disparity between rich and poor can be a bit of a shock to the system. The richest area, Kotu, is almost exclusively made up of ex-pat foreigners, many of whom also own the majority of businesses in the country, but it is worth remembering that each hotel worker or waiter is supporting up to 30 of his relations at home, so tourism is a really valuable commodity to the country.

For those keen to sample a bit of local life, some of the best activities include traditional drumming, a day-long Gambian cookery course and, for art lovers, a trip to the tiny village of Kubuneh.

The village is home to a fantastic collection of street art by people from all over the world as well as local Gambians, after the English owners of nearby guest house Mandina Lodges set up the first of an annual festival of street art in October.

I found walking around buildings covered in paintings of penguins drinking cocktails or birds lined up on a wire made for a slightly surreal experience, but one that shows off the wealth and diversity of cultural delights on offer and was certainly not what I expected from a tiny rural village.

The Mandina Lodges are an interesting option, comprising a series of eight large huts held up on stilts in the water. They might not be the most luxurious places to stay, but they guarantee a chance to get away from it all and be at one with nature. The forest that surrounds them, called Makasutu, was abandoned by locals a long time ago as it was believed to have been infested by demons following a tribal war.

But it now offers a unique opportunity for wildlife watching along the river, or simply relaxing in its calm and peaceful surroundings.

Hotel accommodation varies widely in both standards and prices, from the relatively basic such as Palma Rima to the ultimate luxury of spa hotel Coco Ocean and the Sheraton, the first international chain to open a hotel in the Gambia.

There is a lot of choice in between, however, with mid-range hotels such as Kombo Beach and exclusive guest houses such as Ngala Lodge and Hibiscus House, many of which are very focused on environmental sustainability.

But one of the biggest things that struck me and most visitors to the Gambia is the friendly and welcoming attitude of the locals, as waiters and hotel workers simply cannot do enough for their guests to ensure you have a pleasant stay.

Even outside the hotel district, where tourists are a rather rarer sight, the reaction was universally positive with residents happy to welcome us into their homes at a moment’s notice.

Such was the warm welcome that my arm even got tired from waving back at all the children and adults who greeted us as we passed by in our four wheel drive.

Of course for many visitors, the main attraction will be the region’s unspoilt and uncrowded beaches, offering a welcome chance to escape the British winter and relax instead under the hot African sun.

Most hotels boast their own beach while all have their own pools to allow guests a chance to cool down after a day in the sun. And with temperatures averaging 32C during the winter months and eight to ten hours of sunshine a day, it is no surprise that came as a welcome relief to many of us. Night-life is also developing quickly in the hotel district with exciting hotspots such as “The Strip” in Kololi, the liveliest part of the tourist area, offering a fantastic range of family-friendly restaurants and a mix of bars and clubs.

Although 90 per cent of Gambians are Muslim, drinking is widely accepted in tourist areas, and the country even has its own brewery making the refreshing local beer, Jul Brew.

Most night spots are easily accessible via the taxi ranks outside the hotels, although it is worth agreeing a price beforehand to avoid any nasty shocks at the end of a good night.

All in all, the Gambia is the perfect place to start for anyone new to Africa but keen to try something different this winter. With its fantastic range of activities, wonderful weather and welcoming staff, it has truly earned its reputation as “The smiling coast of Africa”.

Katie McGonagle visited as a guest of The Gambia Experience, which offers a range of deals starting at £399 for seven nights. Visit www.gambia.co.uk for more information.

Ends

Summer early booking offers

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia Experience has early booking offers available on its summer holidays valid until 28th February including savings of up to £100 per person on all-inclusive holidays, free room upgrades and a 2nd week in a boutique hotel for just £99.

During May and June the weather is very appealing in The Gambia with maximum temperatures averaging 32°C with 9 or 10 hours of sunshine. The resorts are also quieter during summer and there are some excellent savings to take advantage of including:

£100pp of 14 nights and £50pp off 7 nights at the Sheraton Gambia Hotel in May and June on all-inclusive basis.
£50pp off holidays up to 14 nights at Kombo Beach Hotel for departures in May, June and July.
2nd week in a boutique hotel for only £99 when staying at Ngala Lodge on bed and breakfast basis from May to October.
Free room upgrades at Coco Ocean Resort and Spa from May to October.

For full details of offers see http://www.gambia.co.uk/Docs/Special-Offers/2011-Offers.aspx

New all-inclusive hotel in The Gambia

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A second hotel in The Gambia is now offering all-inclusive holidays. The **** Laico Atlantic Beach Hotel in Banjul has just introduced the all-inclusive option which is available as an upgrade for £30.50 per person per night. Children aged 12 to 16 years receive a 50% reduction on this and children under 12 upgrade free of charge if sharing a room with their parents.

The all-inclusive package includes a buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner; a selection of snacks during the day; selected drinks; and all games and sports*. Customers booking a holiday on bed & breakfast or half board basis can upgrade to all-inclusive at any point during their stay and will need to pay the hotel for the upgrade during their holiday. 7 nights bed & breakfast at the **** Laico Atlantic Beach Hotel start from £449 per person.

All-inclusive holidays are also available at the ***** Sheraton Gambia Hotel in Brufut.

*For full details of included drinks and all other details please contact reservations on 0845 330 2060 or email holidays@gambia.co.uk

Roots Festival 2011

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The 10th edition of the International Roots Home Coming Festival in The Gambia will be held between 4th & 10th February 2011. The theme of the biennial festival will be “Celebrating African Unity” and tourists are invited to take part in the events which will include the official opening ceremony and carnival held at July 22nd Square in Banjul, and a journey to the Roots Heritage Trail and the historic sites of Juffureh, Albreda and James Island.

Roots packages are available through The Gambia Experience with 7 nights starting from £449 per person and 14 nights starting from £499 per person. These prices include return flights, in-flight meals, 20 kilograms luggage allowance, transfers and accommodation based on two sharing a twin room at Palma Rima hotel on bed & breakfast basis. Prices do not include the festival registration fee – for more details of the event visit www.rootsgambia.gm

School Development Fund close to target

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

At the start of 2010 The Gambia Experience’s School Development Fund was re-launched with the aim of raising £8000 during the year. Thanks to a number of fundraising events by UK staff, donations from holidaymakers in The Gambia and contributions from the company, the Fund is close to reaching its target.

The total currently stands at £7018.84 and there are still a few outstanding donations to be added - a member of our team, who would rather stay anonymous, has recently given up smoking and has raised more than £90; customer donations in The Gambia during December are yet to be counted and there is over £150 from our UK office tuck shop still to add to the Fund. We’re hopeful we can reach the target with a little help!

If you would like to find out more about the Fund, the projects it supports or you would like to make a donation visit www.schooldevelopmentfund.org

Gambia Open & Pro-Am Golf Tournament

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

More than 50 golfers from the UK, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and Sweden competed in The Gambia Open & Pro-Am Tournament which was held between 8th & 13th December at the Fajara Golf Course.

The winner of the tournament, professional Gambian Fakebba Drammeh, received 300,000 Dalasi whilst the runners up, Sierra Leoneans Jerry Dumbuya and Robet Williams received D35,000 each.
The Gambia Golf Association (GGA) also awarded prizes for amateur men, ladies, teams, nearest the pin and longest drive.

African Adventure

Gareth Griffiths - South Wales Echo — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Gareth Griffiths travels to The Gambia for an eye-opening trip and discovers the friendliest people he's ever met

Big Hearted Gambia

Elaine Maslin - Eastern Daily Press Saturday Magazine — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Elaine Maslin finds out why The Gambia and its friendly people win over the hearts of visitors to the small African nation

Christmas in The Gambia - save on London Gatwick departures

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia Experience is pleased to announce its Christmas & New Year holiday offers. The specialist tour operator has increased its flight capacity from London Gatwick to meet seasonal demand, in turn also offering additional Premium Class flight upgrades.
The Gambia is a popular destination to travel to during the festive season - less than six hours from the UK, with no time difference and guaranteed winter sun – it is easy to see why many holidaymakers swap time off in the UK to discover, or return to, The Gambia, Africa’s ‘smiling coast’. Christmas / New Year offers include the following, which are perfect for couples & families alike:

Departing for Christmas ~ Offers include:
Kombo Beach Hotel – save £169pp
The Gambia Experience is offering 7-night holidays at the 4-grade Kombo Beach Hotel in Kotu for £849 per person, valid for departures on Tuesday 21 December and resulting in a saving of £169pp from brochure price. This price is based on two sharing a Standard Room and includes breakfast, one Christmas gala dinner, return flights from London Gatwick, taxes and transfers. The same package is available for Friday 24 December departures for £899 per person, resulting in a saving of £119pp from brochure price. The Kombo Beach Hotel has special events lined up for the festive season including, visiting artists and dancers from Belgium; a visit from Santa Claus; and a special Christmas Day dinner served in the Kudula restaurant.

Departing for New Year ~ Offers include:
Sunbeach Hotel – save £317pp
The Gambia Experience is offering 7-night holidays at the 4-grade Sunbeach Hotel in Cape Point for £749 per person, valid for departures on Friday 31 December and resulting in a saving of £317pp from brochure price. This price is based on two sharing a Standard Room and includes breakfast, New Year gala dinner, return flights from London Gatwick, taxes and transfers.

Holidays from £599 per person this Christmas / New Year
Christmas / New Year holidays with The Gambia Experience start from £599 per person for 7-nights (departing 31 December), staying at the 2-grade African Village Hotel and resulting in a saving of £248pp from brochure price. Two-week holidays during this period start from £799 per person (departing 22 December), staying at the 2-grade Palma Rima Hotel and resulting in a saving of £189pp from brochure price. These prices are based on two sharing a standard room and include breakfast, Christmas Eve / New Year’s Eve gala dinners, return flights from London Gatwick, taxes and transfers.
Premium Class flight upgrades are available from £375 per person over the Christmas period.
For more information and offers, please call The Gambia Experience Reservations Department on 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk. Please note that all offers are subject to availability.

The Smiling Coast of Africa

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Scene's Gary Caffell reports on a memorable trip to West Africa

Price Match Guarantee

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia Experience has introduced a Price Match Guarantee for all pre-Christmas holidays. The guarantee relates to any holidays departing between 1st November and 10th December 2010 and applies to all hotels and all airports featured by the operator. This means that if you find the same holiday cheaper anywhere else, the operator will match it.

The Gambia Experience currently has some fantastic deals with prices starting from just £299 per person this November including flights and twin bed & breakfast accommodation. For more details of all special offers visit www.gambia.co.uk/specialoffers

The offer is subject to availability at the time of booking so we recommend booking as soon as possible to ensure you don’t miss out.

Two New Property Choices added for Winter

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Specialist tour operator, The Gambia Experience, is pleased to announce the addition of two new properties to its ‘Holidays with a Difference’ portfolio.

Hibiscus House
www.gambia.co.uk/hibiscus
From November 2010, The Gambia Experience is pleased to once again feature Hibiscus House, a family-run hotel set within tropical gardens in the African village of Brufut.
Hibiscus House has an intimate feel with only eight individually designed rooms, located around the small swimming pool and Jacuzzi. Menus for lunch and dinner are inspired by both African and International cuisine, using fresh local produce.
The hotel has an excellent relationship with the local community and is happy to extend this knowledge to ensure guests get the most out of their stay.
Hotel owner and trained clinical holistic therapist, Susan Clifford-Webb, offers treatments such as Indian Head Massage, Reflexology and Reiki in the surrounds of Hibiscus House’s new Holistic Garden – treatments are open to both guests at the property, as well as visitors.
Although Hibiscus House is not directly on the beach, the hotel provides complimentary transport to and from local beaches, including the quiet Batakunku Beach, complete with local beach bar and restaurant.

Sitanunku Lodge
www.gambia.co.uk/sitanunku
Sitanunku Lodge is situated on the North Bank of the River Gambia Estuary enjoying a secluded waterfront location on the peninsular overlooking Dog Island.
This newly built lodge - opening in November 2010 - is in a slightly elevated position above the river and set within a natural forest of clusters of Baobab trees. A sandy beach is a short walk away.
There are six spacious, modern lodges in total, spaced to ensure a level of privacy and positioned so as to enjoy views of the water. Facilities include a restaurant, bar and swimming pool. Ten sea-facing lodges on the other side of the peninsular are planned for completion in 2011.
The lodge will have a special appeal for keen anglers as Dog Island is home to some of the world’s best large fish, including Atlantic Tarpon. Bait fishing and shore fishing are both available.

The complimentary use of canoes, as well as boat transfers to Dog Island and the local village of Sitanunku are included. Birdwatching walks with a local guide are also on offer, as well as mountain bikes for hire. Horse riding is planned. Sitanunku Lodge has been designed to maximise sustainable tourism measures with solar power being utilised throughout the complex. It also has its own borehole for the supply of water.

This winter 7-night holidays at Hibiscus House with breakfast start from £610pp, at Sitanunku Lodge on half board from £966 per person. Return flights from London Gatwick – Banjul, taxes and airport transfers are included within the package price. Winter regional departures are available from Bristol, Stansted, Birmingham and Manchester. Three or Four-Night add-on stays are also available from £250pp, including transfers but excluding flights.
The Gambia Experience is currently promoting its ‘Winter Offers’, valid for holidays booked by 24 October and including savings of up to £147 per person and free room upgrades. For more information, please call The Gambia Experience Reservations Department on 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk

AITO Travel Expo

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Come and find out more about The Gambia and other destinations available through our sister companies (Cape Verde, Senegal, Corsica, Sardinia and Short Breaks to France & Belgium) at the AITO Travel Expo. Wednesday 6th October from 6 - 8.30pm at The Science Museum in London. Entry is free and there's a glass of wine on arrival, to register email travelexpo@aito.com

You can find out more at http://www.aito.co.uk/holiday-inspirations.asp

Africa Round-Up: Step away from the binoculars

Rhiannon Batten - The Independent — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Think Africa, think safari – spotting the Big Five can seem like the only way to holiday on the continent.

Yet, there's so much more to African adventuring than walking with lions. If you're curious to explore a different side, put down those binoculars and take your pick from this diverse selection of the best new cultural trips around Africa.

Visual art fans will be tempted by Wide Open Walls. Organised by Gambia's Mandina Lodges, this eco street-art project runs from 12 to 26 October. Eight international street artists will stay at the lodges while they paint the nearby village of Kubuneh. Guests can see their handiwork – and meet the villagers involved – on day excursions to the village. Packages cost from £1,130 per person, including return flights, transfers, and seven nights' half-board (0845 330 2087; gambia.co.uk).

Book early for Tanzania Odyssey's new Zanzibar trip, timed to coincide with the Zanzibar Film Festival, from 2 to 10 July 2011. The company's 11-day itinerary includes three days of screenings in Stone Town followed by six days of beachside luxury. Prices start at £1,999 per person, including full-board, but not flights or festival tickets (020-7471 8780; tanzania odyssey.com).

Malawi's Lake of the Stars Festival runs from 15 to 17 October this year, with the Noisettes and Tinashé on the bill. Festival tickets (£75) and London to Blantyre flights (from £549) are being sold through STA Travel (0871 230 8581; lakeofstars@ statravel.co.uk).

Excursions into the Africa's rich musical seams are also promised on Dragoman's new Music & Magic of Mali tour. The 14-day itinerary takes in traditional Malian music, homestays in Dogon villages, a visit to Djenne's mud mosque and a tour of Bamako's nightclubs. Trips cost from £827 per person, including transport, camping and meals, but not flights (01728 861133; dragoman.com).

Songlines is launching a tour along less travelled musical paths next March with its Sounds of Addis trips. Taking in the Ethiopian Music Festival, as well as more general sightseeing, these 10-day itineraries cost from £1,995 per person, including B&B, entry to selected music events and sightseeing, but not flights (020-8505 2582; songlines.co.uk).

If your feet are itching to walk rather than dance, Village Ways is launching new trips in Ethiopia's remote Tigray province next month. Prices haven't been set, but its existing Ethiopian trips start at about £860 per person for 10 nights, with guiding and full-board, but not flights (01223 750049; villageways.com).

Similarly co-operative gatherings are promised on Undiscovered Destinations' new Nuba People and Villages tour through central Sudan. The 15 days encompass nights in wild camps and insights into local customs. Full-board prices start at £2,850 per person, without flights (0191-296 2674; undiscovered-destinations.com).

To Escape To's eight-night Northern Namibia – Himba Culture trips include two nights at Okahirongo River Camp, which opened last month. Guests are encouraged to visit a local Himba village to discover cultural traditions at first hand. Trips start at £2,450 per person, including flights, car hire and accommodation (020-7060 6747; toescapeto.com).

Responsible trips at more affordable prices are the stock in trade of Down to Earth Holidays, a new initiative from Tribes Travel launching in October. Highlights of its new seven-day Cape Town & Winelands tours include lunch in a traditional township restaurant, a homestay in Stellenbosch, a "wine, cheese and chocolate" tour and an optional evening jazz safari in Cape Town. Prices start from £720 per person, including accommodation and some meals, but not flights (01728 685971; down-to-earth-holidays.com).

Also in South Africa, Travel by Design is running new Flavours of the Cape trips. These start in the Bo-Kaap area of Cape Town, where you can learn how to make a traditional Cape Malay lunch, before heading up the coast for seafood, vineyard tours and traditional South African braais (barbecue). Seven-day trips cost from £2,460 per person, including flights, transfers, B&B and some meals (01932 844644; travelbydesign.co.uk).

More specialist skills are on offer in Mozambique. Here, Bridge & Wickers' new Ibo Island Jewellery Experience combines silversmithing lessons with snorkelling and boat trips. Five-night stays cost from £780 per person, including transfers, activities and full-board, but not flights (020-7483 6555; bridgeadwickers .co.uk). Or you could sign up to Audley Travel's Learning How to Be a Samburu Warrior trip in Kenya and try everything from using a bow and arrow to foraging for medicinal plants. New this year is the chance to walk with Kalama warriors, who sing while they walk. Rates start at £3,850 per person for a six-day holiday, including flights, activities and full-board (01993 838500; audleytravel.com).

Other active options include Sports Development Expeditions with Camps International. Volunteers spend a month coaching schools football, netball, athletics and (new for next year) hockey, as well as constructing school and community sports facilities. Prices start at £1,675 per person, including full-board but not flights (0844 800 1127; camps international.com).

Rainbow Tours offers a visit the new TribeWanted project in Sierra Leone, a partnership project where visitors can live alongside the locals, helping to develop a sustainable village. Seven-night trips cost from £1,495 per person, including flights, accommodation and most meals (020-7226 1004; rainbowtours.co.uk).

Finally, if you're short of time, try Fleewinter's Souks and Skiing minibreaks, which launch in February 2011 and combine two nights in Marrakech with a day in the Atlas mountains. Trips cost from £295 per person, including flights, transfers and B&B (020-7112 019; fleewinter.com).

Gambian Pupils Send Message to The Pope’s Big Assembly

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Children at the St John Vianney School in The Gambia watched pupils from Holy Cross Primary School in Plymouth meet Pope Benedict XVI on Friday via a live screen link. Eight youngsters from Holy Cross Primary took to the stage at St Mary’s University College in Twickenham last week as part of the Pope’s Big Assembly. The Devonshire school has links with the Gambian school and its pupils presented the Pope with gifts made by the children in The Gambia, including a stole which the Pope placed around his neck.

3,500 children from across the UK attended the Pope’s Big Assembly in Twickenham which lasted two hours. Pupils from the St John Vianney School in The Gambia also sent a message to thank the students of Holy Cross School for their support and for teaching them about their lives.

Where to Bag an Autumn Holiday Bargain

Martin Symington - The Daily Mail — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

THE GAMBIA

A week in West Africa, staying at a reasonable hotel on the beach all for a little over £300. Amazing! Good and varied restaurants are nearby, where you can feast on delicious fresh fish and cold beer for less than a fiver each under cloudless skies.

THE DEAL: The Gambia Experience offer seven nights B&B at the four-star Ocean Bay Hotel, departing on Tuesday, September 14, and September 21, or October 12 and 29, for £329. Includes flights from Gatwick and transfers (0845 330 2060, gambia.co.uk).

Kololi in Lastminute.com’s Top 10

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Kololi in The Gambia is one of the top 10 holiday destinations featured on Lastminute.com according to a list published in last weekend’s Observer. Kololi is the biggest resort in The Gambia with a couple of streets of bars and restaurants, although it remains much more low key than many other destinations. There are two great hotels here directly on the beach – the 5* Kairaba and 3+* Senegambia – plus a few others within easy reach: the deluxe Coco Ocean and Coconut Residence, plus 2* Sarge’s Hotel.

The Gambia Experience has some excellent savings available on holidays in the next few weeks. For example: a week at the 5*Kairaba for £329 – a saving of over £200. For more details see our late deals page.

The Gambia to host Eco Street Art Event

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The award-winning Mandina Lodges at Makasutu forest are pleased to announce that they will be hosting ‘Wide Open Walls’, an eco street art project scheduled to take place in The Gambia 12 – 26 October 2010. ‘Wide Open Walls’ will see the Mandina Lodges welcome eight top street artists from around the world: London-based graphic artist, Eelus http://eelus.com/ is the designated ‘curator’ of project and will be joined by the following artists: Logan Hicks, Christian Guemy (C215), Will Barras, Broken Crow (John Girder & Mike Fitzsimmons), Lucy McLauchlan and Ben Eine.

The purpose of ‘Wide Open Walls’ is to paint the village of Kubuneh, which the artists will travel to by boat along the River Gambia directly from Makasutu. Kubuneh is part of the Ballabu Conservation Project, the ongoing green endeavour by UK owners of Makasutu, Lawrence Williams and James English. The concept of the Ballabu Conservation Project is to create an 85sq kilometre conservation area, incorporating 14 Gambian villages, which, in time, will become self-sustaining. The Eden Project - introducing its Gardens for Life scheme to The Gambia - is an active supporter of both the Ballabu Conservation Project and ‘Wide Open Walls’.

Lawrence Williams of Makasutu – who has been to art college, as well as being qualified as an architect - has the Village Elders’ blessing for the street art event and is delighted that his vision is now coming together:
“A couple of years ago I started working with the renowned Gambian artist Njogu Touray on a street art project under the name of ‘Bushdwellers’. This involved our painting walls in the villages around Makasutu and then moving on to paint canvasses during the rainy season. The fact that this has now progressed to become ‘Wide Open Walls’ is such a triumph - I cannot wait to see such talented artists join together in what is a very unique way.”

Exclusive to The Gambia Experience and part of the specialist’s ‘Luxury Collection’, The Mandina Lodges at Makasutu are situated on a tributary of the River Gambia in the heart of the African bush. Expert guides are available at no extra cost to help guests explore the wildlife-rich 1000-acre forest, both on foot and by canoe through the mangroves.
For those who are not holidaying in one of the eight lodges, the tour operator offers day trips to Makasutu as an excursion option. It is expected that ‘Wide Open Walls’ will also become an excursion choice in its own right, inviting holidaymakers to view the art and also explore the Ballabu villages and meet the locals. ’Wide Open Walls’ is actively supported by key bodies within resort, including the Gambia Tourism Authority.

For more information about the Mandina Lodges at Makasutu, please call The Gambia Experience Reservations Dept on 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk
For more information and interviews regarding ‘Wide Open Walls’, please visit www.thegambiablog.co.uk

Squad Named for African Nations Qualifier

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia’s Belgian football coach, Paul Put, has named his squad for the 2012 African Nations Cup qualifier against Namibia at home this Saturday. Included in the squad are 20 players who play in Europe and America and just three who are based in The Gambia.

Momodou Ceesay returns to the squad after his recent form with Slovakian champions MSK Zilina who are into the UEFA Champions League group stage for the fist time. Kebba Ceesay and Mamadou Futty Danso have been called-up for the first time as the team looks to bring through young players. The full squad is:

Pa Dembo Touray
Musa Camara
Cristopher Allen
Kebba Ceesay
Mamadou Futty Danso
Abdou Jammeh
Omar Jawo
Pa Saikou Kujabi
Alagie Sosseh
Abdou Njie
Ebrima Sohna
Tijan Jaiteh
Muhammed Mbye
Mustapha Toubabo Jarju
Dawda Bah
Sainey Nyassi
Sanna Nyassi
Abdoulie Kenny Mansally
Cherno Samba
Ousman Jallow
Momodou Ceesay
Njogu Demba
Aziz Corr Nyang

Return to Gambia

Tony Knight - Compass Magazine — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia on GMTV This Week

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia Experience is pleased to announce that two of its Luxury Collection properties - Coco Ocean Resort & Spa and the Mandina Lodges at Makasutu - will be featured as the competition prize on GMTV this week (on air 30 August – 03 September). The lucky winner will win a 14-night half board holiday for six to the Coco Ocean Resort & Spa, with a private day excursion to Makasutu included in the prize. In addition to this, the winner will receive £5,000 in cash, as well as flight upgrades where applicable, private airport transfers and two complimentary spa treatments each to enjoy during their hotel stay.

Coco Ocean Resort & Spa
Since opening in December 2008, Coco Ocean Resort & Spa - occupying a prime elevated position on an unspoilt beach in Bijilo - has been successful in attracting new clientele to The Gambia. Moorish architecture, swaying palms, tropical gardens and stylish interior design combine to provide the perfect setting for a deluxe holiday to remember. The 1800sq metre spa facility is an integral part of Coco Ocean Resort & Spa and is the first of its kind in The Gambia, its signature treatment being the Moroccan Hammam treatment.

The Mandina Lodges at Makasutu
The award-winning Mandina Lodges at Makasutu are set within a 1000-acre forest on a tributary of the River Gambia. Guests can choose from Floating, Stilted or Jungle Lodges, and are allocated a complimentary personal guide, on hand to help them discover the bush on foot, observe wildlife and explore the river by pirogue. Makasutu can be booked as a holiday in itself, or as an add-on to a stay at a coastal hotel, and promises an enchanting experience of authentic Gambia.

The Gambia Experience director, Chris Ayling said:
“We hope that the breakfast television coverage of The Gambia will raise awareness as to what the destination is able to offer and encourage new clients to holiday there. In addition to offering a great range of 2* to 5* hotels, there are wonderful boutique and eco properties, plus a wide range of fantastic restaurants. The Gambia Experience brochure includes an exclusive ‘Luxury Collection’, available to book with upgraded flights and private transfers.”

This winter, The Gambia Experience offers 7-nights bed & breakfast at the Coco Ocean Resort & Spa from £946 per person and 7-nights half board at the Mandina Lodges at Makasutu from £1096 per person. Both are based on two sharing and include return flights London Gatwick – Banjul, taxes and transfers. The Gambia Experience lead-in for this winter is 7-nights from £399 per person. For more information, please call The Gambia Experience Reservations Dept on 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk

Banjul Airport listed in The Observer’s Top Ten

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Banjul International Airport in The Gambia featured in The Observer on Sunday in an article by Rowan Moore entitled “The 10 best airports” alongside other renowned architectural designs such as Santos Dumont in Rio de Janeiro, Dulles Washington DC, Kansai Osaka, Charles de Gaulle in Paris and Changi in Singapore.

Journalist Rowan Moore says of Banjul Airport:
“Banjul Airport, Gambia, wins a prize for its sheer indifference to all the usual clichés and conventions of airport design. True, it goes like many others for something a bit wing-like, but the gratuitous projections at its sides are nothing like the swoops of Saarinen or Piano. It also goes, for no particular reason, for an arch in its centre with a bigger inverted arch above. A tongue-like canopy then sticks out from the mouth-like arch. The work of the Senegalese Pierre Goudiaby Atepa, its main design principle would appear to be to do stuff for the sheer hell of it.”

To read the article in full visit The Guardian website: www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/15/10-best-airports-rowan-moore#history-link-box

Go Birding in The Gambia

Ron Toft - The Travel Editor — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Holidaymakers fly to The Gambia in West Africa for a variety of reasons, not least to soak up the sunshine and experience the local culture. But to one group of Brits, birdwatchers, the main attraction is the country's feathered inhabitants. The Gambia, in fact, is a veritable mecca for birds, boasting more than 540 species.

Some birders, especially those travelling with their families, restrict their binocular and telescope-laden forays to the hours just after dawn or just before dusk. But for the really dedicated, who travel on their own or with fellow enthusiasts, it's birds, birds and more birds virtually all day, every day. It's amazing, for example, just how many species can be spotted from the comfort of a shady resort bar or sun lounger!

Some birders, especially the well travelled and more experienced, fly to The Gambia on their own and make their own way to the avian hotspots. For those, however, who don't like travelling on their own in a strange country, and don't really know where the birding hotspots are located, everything can be left in the capable hands of The Gambia Experience which organises several birding trips every year. One of those trips, in February, is led by none other than globetrotting TV naturalist and all-round nice guy Chris Packham.

Chris, whom I have known for about 20 years, often visits The Gambia and is, therefore, extremely knowledgeable about what birds can be seen and where they can be seen. The supplement for the three-day trip taking place from 4 to 7 February 2011 is £325. You could also book an additional three-night stay on a half-board basis at Mandina Lodges in Makasutu Forest for £495. A word of warning though: Chris' trips are very popular and your name may have to go on a waiting list. Other birding trips organised by The Gambia Experience make use of the services of local guide Malick Suso, whom Chris regards as one of the best bird guides in the whole of The Gambia.

What makes The Gambia so special in birding terms? "It's great for enthusiasts and for an introduction to West African bird life in general," writes Chris in The Gambia Experience's new holiday brochure.

"Maybe it's the place that all good birders go to when they lay down their binoculars and complete their life lists!"

He added: "Just last year (2009) my daughter and I spent a day aboard a luxurious catamaran at the mouth of the River Gambia. As a pod of eight dolphins splashed beneath the bows, a goliath heron was after the fish we'd caught and an osprey flew overhead. All this whilst sipping an ice-cold G&T. What's not to love?"

Indeed. I shall be returning to The Gambia in December 2010 and reporting on my birding and other experiences within the pages of It's A Wild World.

More Flights added to meet demand for October Half Term

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia Experience is pleased to announce it has secured additional flights between Gatwick and Banjul, to meet demand for holidays in The Gambia, over the October half term. In addition to its existing twice-weekly Gatwick departures, the tour operator is offering extra flights with Monarch Airlines on board a Boeing 757 aircraft for departures 22 and 29 October.

The Gambia Experience’s commercial manager, Paul Kenny said:
“We have filled our allocation on the existing Viking flight on October 22nd, so thanks to these additional flights, holidaymakers wanting to travel at this time will now not be disappointed.”

The Gambia is an attractive holiday choice for many families as it’s outside of the euro zone, within six hours of London and on the same time zone. Not only is it ideal for a winter sun holiday with its vast sandy beaches and superb climate, but it is also an excellent and safe place to learn about different people and new cultures. Having the opportunity to visit a school and meet Gambian children with a different lifestyle, or to observe a monkey or baboon in their natural habitat, can provide both a stimulating and educational experience.

The Gambia Experience offers a wide ranging choice of accommodation to suit all tastes and pockets including: family friendly beachfront hotels, intimate boutique style properties where the emphasis is on service and privacy, luxury spa resorts, as well as adult-only properties – perfect for teachers and other professionals tied to the half term holiday. The tour operator offers twice-weekly flights from Gatwick year round and regional departures during the winter season which include: Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester and new from December, Stansted.

Prices are from £735 per person based on seven nights bed & breakfast at Atlantic Beach, a 4 -grade beachfront hotel, with swimming pool and separate children’s pool, two jacuzzis and children’s playground. This price includes return Gatwick – Banjul flight departing 22 October, in-flight meal, transfers, airport taxes and government tourist levy. Extra legroom seats are also available from £60 per person return.

Get away to The Gambia

Rosa Monckton - The Mail on Sunday — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It is 45 years since The Gambia became independent, and the celebrations to mark this event coincided with my family's visit to the country. Across the aisle from me on a crammed Monarch Airlines flight from London to the Gambian capital Banjul, incongruously surrounded by bearded and sandalwearing bird-watchers, sat the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, studying her itinerary intently. I wondered if she was visiting the country to take part in the celebrations, as some relic of the colonial past that The Gambia had left behind.

We were staying at The Coco Ocean Resort in Bijilo, a 15-minute drive from Banjul. It is a haven from the hustle and hassle of daily Gambian life. If you choose, you can spend your days in the resort's elegant grounds, lounge by the pools and gaze out over the beach to the crashing Atlantic waves. The rooms and villas are cool and comfortable, and there is a restaurant built just above the ocean where you can eat lunch and escape the midday sun.

But we chose to use The Coco Ocean as a base camp, somewhere gloriously luxurious to which to return after our many excursions and adventurous dinners (I can recommend a Lebanese restaurant called Al Basha in nearby Kololi, and a particularly good seaside bistro called The Sailor in Kotu).

We spent one morning walking around the market in Serrekunda, The Gambia's largest town. The hubbub and constant motion are in sharp contrast to the elegant ladies in blinding colours selling their wares. And it is the women who are the most important here - they are called Boss Lady. When we were negotiating to buy a multi-coloured raffia basket, the man running the stall said: 'I must ask the Boss Lady.' She was fast asleep under the table. Heavily pregnant, she emerged with feline ease, struck a deal with us, and then crawled back from whence she'd come.
My daughter Domenica was astonished by the way all the women carried everything on their heads, from vast sacks of potatoes to impossibly large steel containers overflowing with vegetables and fruit. Many had babies tied to their backs too, and all swayed along with marvellous natural rhythm and innate grace. Only once did we see men carrying things on their heads - and this appeared to be rubbish contained in black plastic sacks. Domenica thought it would be a good way for her father to do the same thing. I readily agreed.

That evening, we visited the Bijilo Forest, next to the resort, and were lucky to see several monkeys, even glimpsing an elusive colobus swinging high in the branches. Green monkeys were far more curious, following us around and allowing us to get very close. Seeing two of them sitting side by side on a log, with their feet on the ground and their beady eyes missing nothing, they looked for all the world like any old couple perched on a park bench. It was a true Darwinian moment. There were several of the strange, upside-down-looking baobab trees in the forest, which are thought to have magical properties and which survive for hundreds of years because of their ability to store rainwater in their trunks. Our guide told us that the fruit from the tree could be made into a drink with an extremely high alcoholic content - a few sips could make you 'see all the way to England!' Meandering back from the forest, we came across a group of drum-beating locals surrounding an adolescent boy dressed in white. Then we spotted two other men dancing manically by the side of the road. They wore weird, brightly coloured fringed costumes, with masks over their faces, and they brandished a curved knife in each hand. Sometimes they dashed in front of cars, flashing the knives. Our driver told us this was a circumcision ceremony, which takes place when a boy is between ten and 12 years old. Only recently has the actual circumcision been done in hospital. Perhaps boys in the past could have done with the anaesthetic qualities of whatever alcoholic drink can be made from the baobab tree!

The music from the ceremony enthused Domenica, so the following day we went to the market in the town of Bakau in search of a musical instrument. There we encountered a man known as Mr No Problem, his name writ large on a sign above his stall. Mr No Problem and Domenica became instant friends, and after an impromptu jamming session she became the proud owner of a bongo drum and a giant seed pod, with her name written on it in black paint and shoe polish, to rattle as an accompaniment. My eldest daughter Savannah found the perfect gifts for her closest girlfriends: three carved monkeys in the classic see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil format. I didn't ask.

After so many excursions, we chose to spend the next day at the hotel, on the beach and in the spa. Until the opening of luxury hotels such as the Coco Ocean and its sister venue, the Coconut Residence, The Gambia was known primarily for cheap package deals and as a holiday destination for bird-watchers. The Coco Ocean Group is co-owned by a local man, Farid Bensouda, and a German called Walter Loehn. Farid is the interior designer and Walter the architect, and theirs is an inspired partnership. Having visited one or two other hotels in the country, I would say they have certainly created an oasis in a hinterland of dubious taste. The landscaping at the Coco Ocean is perfect. Within the grounds is a vast vegetable garden run with immense pride by Moor Faal - the delicious produce is served in the hotel's three restaurants.

There are other bonuses that The Gambia offers British visitors: the flight takes only six hours, there is no time difference, and the sun shines all year round. What's not to like?

The hotel spa is spectacular, with treatment rooms overlooking the ocean. I had a hammam - an exfoliating session in a Moroccan-inspired steam room - while Savannah had a back massage. I only wish that instead of piped music we could have listened to the roar of the ocean. It's ironic that in many city spas you have to listen to taped ocean music. What is wrong with the real thing when it is right outside your window?

No trip to The Gambia would be complete without spending a day on the River Gambia, so we set off on the hotel boat, a pirogue, accompanied by Lamin, one of the hotel chefs. During the trip we ate probably the most delicious food of our week. It was so delicious that it didn't matter in the least that our boat broke down - or that the crucial spare part required to mend the engine disappeared into the river after being thrown from a neighbouring boat. We were much too busy enjoying our fish marinaded in ginger, coriander, oyster sauce and chilli. When the fault was finally fixed, we went to the fishing port of Tanji and a nearby village. It was like a journey to a past century. The fishing continues as it has for aeons, with the smokery under a hut on the beach, amid the clamorous noise of gulls and children. The villagers, meanwhile, live in one-room houses and have no running water.

Our last day was Independence Day, and the president of a neighbouring African country arrived at our hotel with his entourage. The red carpet was laid out as his vast cavalcade approached, drums rolled and dancers in splendid costumes put on a marvellous performance. For a few glorious moments, it was like being in a scene from Evelyn Waugh's Scoop.
I looked out for the Lord Lieutenant, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Travel Facts
Specialist tour operator The Gambia Experience (0845 330 2087, www.gambia.co.uk) offers seven nights at The Coco Ocean Resort & Spa, part of The Gambia Experience Luxury Collection, from £989pp. This includes B&B accommodation in a junior suite, a complimentary foot massage and return flights from Gatwick. Departures from other airports are also available.

Experience The Gambia this Winter

Ron Toft - The Travel Editor — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Looking for somewhere different to go to during the UK's often utterly miserable and depressing winter months? If so, make tracks for The Gambia on West Africa's so-called Smiling Coast.

This small country not only offers plenty of sunshine from October to April, when our weather tends to be at its worst, but flights are not overly long (five-and-a-half to six hours), there is no jet lag, the people are extremely friendly and there are lots of things to do - from relaxing on the beach with a drink and a good book to becoming immersed in the local culture, watching birds and catching fish.

When Fareham, Hampshire-based Serenity Holidays launched The Gambia Experience in 1987, the number of weekly bookings was only around 20 a week. Now between 800 and 850 holidaymakers pack their bags and head to the small capital of Banjul every week during Gambia's hot, dry winter season when the UK has little to offer apart from frost, snow, rain and often gale-force winds.

Serenity, the destination specialist as far as The Gambia is concerned, has enjoyed various growth phases as far as bookings to this delightful West African country are concerned. The first, in the early 90s, was when the company introduced summer holidays to try to encourage year-round tourism in The Gambia. The second, in the mid-90s, was when Serenity started its premium class service. And the third, in the late 90s, was when the business launched the first of its regional services.

"Having travelled and lived abroad extensively, I always get asked for holiday recommendations by friends and relatives," said Chris Rowles, managing director of Serenity Holidays.
"The question, ‘Will I like it?' fills me with slight dread, as holidays are very individual and what one person loves another avoids. However, over the years my parents, brother, sister, wife and young children, plus numerous friends, have all travelled to The Gambia. Each has fallen in love with the region.

"Most commonly mentioned is the opportunity to experience African culture first hand, mixing with some of the friendliest people on the planet, unforgettable moments visiting local schools, the wide choice of restaurants and, of course, the wonderful sunshine. The fact that there's no jet lag to deal with is a huge bonus."

Chris, who still travels to the region several times a year, went on to say that he has stayed in virtually every Gambia hotel featured by Serenity and personally visits each one at least twice a year.

The Gambia Experience operates two flights a week to Banjul from London Gatwick all year round. Capacity is boosted throughout the winter with flights from Manchester and Birmingham and from December to March with flights from Bristol and Stansted (new this year).

Various packages are offered by Serenity, including two-centre holidays to The Gambia and the Cape Verde Islands. The company is also a Senegal holiday specialist.

"Special interest holidays, such as birdwatching and big game fishing, are becoming increasingly popular," added Chris. "More and more UK birdwatchers are discovering the avian delights of The Gambia, while big game fishermen love pitting their skills against tiger fish and tarpon. In fact, The Gambia is renowned for some of the world's biggest tarpon.

"Every year, in late October or early November, there is also a beach fishing competition which normally attracts 120 fishermen from England and Ireland.

"Yes, there really is something for everyone in The Gambia."

The Gambia Experience offers seven-night holidays from £495 per person. Luxury Collection holidays to The Gambia start from £789.

Gambia Olympics Training Camp in York

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambian Olympic team will train in York prior to the London 2012 Olympics. The Executive Director of the Gambian Olympic Committee, Lawrence Bruce, was in York last month to sign an agreement at the city’s Mansion House and also take a tour of the city’s facilities including Huntington Stadium, York College, University of York and York Community Gymnastics Club.

Gambia made its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, and at the last Olympics in Beijing there were three participants from The Gambia, two sprinters and a boxer, but the country has yet to win its first medal.

York is hoping to sign up other West African nations to its training camp including Senegal, Burkino Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea and Niger.

NEW Charity Website Launched

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia Experience has launched a new website for its School Development Fund which has been raising money for schools in The Gambia for over 20 years but has undergone a revamp this year with a big push for additional fundraising. The Gambia Experience donates money to the Fund for every 100 holiday questionnaires it receives from customers, plus matches donations made by holidaymakers. This year the fund is hoping to raise £8000 to pay for essential building work at two lower basic schools. For more details on previous and current projects, more about the Fund and how you can help visit http://www.schooldevelopmentfund.org/

Gambian Football Tournament Announced

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Despite not qualifying for the World Cup, The Gambia is a nation of football lovers and a five-day tournament has been announced by the president of the Gambia Football Association, Mr Seedy Kinteh. The tournament ‘The President Trophy’ will be held between 13th and 17th July and is being organised in conjunction with The Gambian consulate in Spain. International football scouts have been invited to the event and it is hoped it will benefit young Gambian players looking to play overseas as teams will be only be permitted to play under 20s.

NEW: The Gambia Experience 2010/11 Brochure

Press Office - The Gambia Experience — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Specialist tour operator, The Gambia Experience launches its November 2010 – October 2011 brochure next week. The new-look brochure now incorporates sister company, The Senegal Experience, due to increased interest in twin-centre holidays between the two destinations.

With 23 years experience of organising holidays to West Africa, The Gambia Experience and The Senegal Experience offer the widest range of flight and accommodation options to the UK market.
A variety of hotels are featured with descriptions of each property’s suitability for certain clientele, with ‘Personal Experiences’ from customers, staff and the media added to enhance this content.
Each destination contains its own Luxury Collection, much of which is exclusive and some of which now include spa facilities.

Flight Update: New Stansted departure to Banjul / Twin Centres with Cape Verde
The Gambia Experience offers twice weekly and year-round London Gatwick departures direct to Banjul and exclusively offers the opportunity to upgrade to a Premium Class flight service.
The tour operator is pleased to announce a new departure point to Banjul for 2010/11: Stansted. The Stansted – Banjul route will operate on a Tuesday between December 2010 – March 2011, and with the flight via Boa Vista on the outbound, twin-centre holidays with Cape Verde will become possible. A Bristol – Banjul route will operate during the same period on a Friday, but via Boa Vista on the inbound, also allowing twin-centre holidays with Cape Verde. Twice-weekly Manchester and weekly Birmingham departures direct to Banjul will operate during the winter season.

The Senegal Experience offers twice-weekly scheduled flights with Brussels Airlines to Dakar from five UK airports - including London Heathrow – all via Brussels.

Multi-Centre Holidays – Inspiring Hotel Combinations
For the first time, The Gambia Experience has presented sample hotel combinations within its brochure to provide inspiration as to the scope of twin or multi-centre holidays. This can be within The Gambia or Senegal or combining the two countries. Suggested themed breaks include: Gambian Coast & Wilderness; Gambian Lodges; Discover The Real Africa; and the Luxurious Spas of The Gambia and Senegal. Courtesy of the new Boa Vista routes, Cape Verde may also be incorporated. The Senegal Experience also offers private Tours of Senegal with a driver / guide.

All-Inclusive Update
As from January 2010, all-inclusive holidays became available in The Gambia at the 5* Sheraton Gambia Hotel in Brufut. This new option has been well received and has attracted new clientele to the country. All-inclusive holidays are also available in Senegal at the 4* Royal Decameron Baobab Resort, as well as at two hotels within The Cape Verde Experience, Boa Vista collection. Alternatively, a ‘Wine & Dine’ package has since been introduced at the 5* Kairaba Hotel in Kololi and the 4* Kombo Beach Hotel in Kotu now offers a ‘Dine-Around’ package.

Birdwatching with Chris Packham
BBC presenter Chris Packham returns to The Gambia in February 2011 to lead Birdwatching Tours for Gambia Experience customers. There is a choice of a three-day tour, as well as a three-night option with accommodation incorporated at the award-winning Mandina Lodges at Makasutu. Full itineraries and prices are available by visiting www.gambia.co.uk/chrispackham
New for 2010/11, The Gambia Experience is offering three additional Birdwatching Tours with Malick Suso - Chris Packham’s choice of local guide. For more information, visit www.gambia.co.uk/birdwatching

Sustainable Tourism Update
The Gambia Experience is accredited with 5-star AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators) Sustainable Tourism status - the highest level possible. The Gambia Experience’s School Development Fund will be re-launched this summer with a new website and will aim to raise additional money for two building projects in The Gambia. For more information visit www.gambia.co.uk/schools

Early Booking Offers
A number of Early Booking Offers are available, valid for holidays booked by 10 July 2010. These include savings of up to £180 per person, 4 nights for the price of 3, and 11 nights for the price of 7. This season, The Gambia Experience offers 7-night holidays from £495 per person; The Senegal Experience from £879 per person. Luxury Collection holidays start from £789 (Gambia) and £1098 (Senegal) - all including flights & transfers. For more information, please call The Gambia Experience Reservations Dept on 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk or call The Senegal Experience Reservations Dept on 0845 338 8706 or visit www.senegal.co.uk

Save over £200 on all-inclusive holidays

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia Experience has slashed prices for all holidays to the 5* Sheraton Gambia Hotel this June. A week’s all-inclusive holiday at The Sheraton Gambia Hotel now costs just £699 in June, a saving of up to £170. 10 and 11 night breaks are also reduced and now cost £849 – a saving of up to £217. 14 night holidays are available for £999 – saving up to £179. Flights depart on both Tuesdays and Fridays from Gatwick; to book telephone 0845 330 2060 or book online at www.gambia.co.uk

Jermaine Jackson to Perform at Kanilai Festival

Wed, 26 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The fifth Kanilai International Cultural Festival has opened in Kanilai, The Gambia. The two-week event is held in the birthplace of President Jammeh and is a celebration of Gambian and African culture with music, dance and drama; the event is open to all races and religions with visitors expected from around the world. This year’s events is anticipated to be the biggest ever with Jermaine Jackson set to perform to a special audience of 4,000 people on 31st May as a tribute to his late brother Michael Jackson.

New photographs of The Gambia book

Thu, 20 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

A photojournalist who travelled to The Gambia last year has produced a book of some of his favourite images. You can order copies of the book by Simon Galloway online at www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1231067 and see previews of some of the featured images. Prices start from £10.95 for a soft cover book.

Slice of life in a narrow sliver of a country

Roger St Pierre - The Wharf — Fri, 14 May 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Tour Operator praise for response to volcanic ash disruptions

The Gambia Experience - Press Office — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Leading tour operator, The Gambia Experience has created a Testimonials page for its website - http://www.gambia.co.uk/IcelandVolcano - following the volume of positive client feedback it has received for its handling of the volcanic air plume disruptions.

In terms of its package holiday customers, the award-winning specialist was able to act efficiently, courtesy of an experienced resort team located in The Gambia. At the height of the chaos, holidaymakers remained in the hotels that they had originally booked on a minimum of half-board. On Tuesday 20 April, all customers, bar those booked in Luxury Collection properties, were moved to the 4* Kombo Beach Hotel on full-board (an upgrade for the majority). Having affected clientele in the one property enabled The Gambia Experience to communicate more effectively, as well as be better poised for swift airport transfers.

Those holidaymakers in The Gambia who were due to return 16 or 20 April were able to fly back to London Gatwick as soon as the ban was lifted on Thursday 22 April, thanks to The Gambia Experience having two empty Monarch aircraft ready in Banjul to bring them home. The Gambia Experience Friday and Tuesday London Gatwick – Banjul routes resumed normal service on Friday 23 April. The Gambia Experience customers due to return to Birmingham or Manchester on Thomas Cook flights were similarly taken care of - The Gambia Experience offering flight seats back to London Gatwick on Friday 23 April, before facilitating coach transport onwards to Birmingham and Manchester Airports.

In addition to praise from its customers, The Gambia Experience has also received thanks from Travel Agents, as The Gambia Experience – part of Serenity Holidays Ltd – has an active relationship with the Trade. National media on press trips also took the opportunity to post extra stories online - The Daily Telegraph, travelling with The Gambia Experience, favourably coining its article: ‘Iceland Volcano: Stranded in Paradise’.

The Gambia Experience managing director, Chris Rowles comments:
“The Gambia Experience has been operating for over twenty years and has a genuine duty of care towards its customers, many of whom are repeat-bookers. We - like many other specialist, independent operators at this time - hope to have demonstrated how the repatriation of our holidaymakers was of top priority.”

The Gambia Experience is a trade name of Serenity Holidays Ltd, a fully bonded operator under ATOL 1866 and a member of ABTA, IATA and AITO.

* One of the many quotes from The Gambia Experience clients. See Testimonials page for more.

Gambia: The Perfect Break

Oliver Smith - The Daily Telegraph — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Why Go?.....
Just an hour and a half beyond the Canaries, Africa's smallest mainland country is a world away from your typical spring holiday destination, and offers sandy beaches, fabulous wildlife and virtually guaranteed sunshine.
About 50,000 Britons arrive here every year, but the majority come during the winter, so visit in the next few weeks (the rainy season begins in June) and you will not only be rewarded with warm, dry weather, but also empty beaches and low rates.
The Atlantic Coast resorts of Kololi, Kotu, Fajara and Bakau have a wide range of accommodation and restaurants, and the surrounding area provides plenty of opportunities for bird watching, fishing, and absorbing the local culture. What's more, Gambia's official language is English, it lies in the same time zone as the UK, and the locals are among the friendliest people you'll ever meet.

Get there by...
Plane. Charter flights from London Gatwick serve tiny Banjul International Airport on Tuesdays and Fridays throughout the year. Book through Gambia Experience (0845 330 2060; www.gambia.co.uk).

Stay at…
The Coco Ocean Resort and Spa (00220 446 6500; www.cocoocean.com; seven nights' b&b from £553 per person). Fifteen minutes from the airport, and a mile south of Kololi, this is the place to stay on the Atlantic Coast. The sprawling resort features stunning gardens, beautiful rooms with sea views, striking Moorish arches and domes, and a fantastic spa, while the menu at the hotel's courtyard restaurant is as good as you'll find anywhere in Gambia. Jermaine Jackson and sports presenter Mark Bright both stayed here recently.
Alternatives include the Coconut Residence (00220 446 1858; www.coconutresidence.com; seven nights' b&b from £483), a slightly faded but elegant colonial-style hotel a few miles from the beaches of Kololi, and Fajara's cliff-top Ngala Lodge (00220 449 4045; www.ngalalodge.com; seven nights' b&b from £389), where every suite has its own Jacuzzi. All three hotels can be booked through Gambia Experience (see above). Three night breaks are also available.

Spend the morning...
Admiring the wildlife. The Bijilo Forest Park (00220 999 6343; admission 30 Gambian dalasi/£0.75), close to Kololi, is home to red colobus and green vervet monkeys, and well over 100 species of birds, including vultures, falcons, sunbirds, bee-eaters and hornbills.
On arrival, you'll almost certainly be approached by one or more unofficial "guides", who'll offer to show you around for a small fee (perhaps GMD100/£2.40). Peanut sellers can also be found at the entrance, although feeding the monkeys is discouraged. You can hire an official guide, or simply explore on your own (the paths are marked).
Farther afield, the Abuko Nature Reserve (00220 437 5888; admission GMD35/£0.90) – some seven miles from Kololi – contains more than 250 bird species, 52 mammal species, pythons, cobras and Nile crocodiles. A taxi to the reserve should cost around GMD400/£10 there and back, including waiting time.

Have lunch at...
One of the bars on Kotu Beach, the region's most picturesque strip of sand, where you can enjoy fresh fish and fruit juice. Further south, Solomon's Beach Bar (00220 446 0716; Palma Rima Road, Kololi) is a popular venue for reggae, seafood and Julbrew (the local lager), while the Coco Beach Restaurant at the Coco Ocean Resort (see above), serves tasty salads and snacks.
If you're in Banjul (see below), grab a shawarma (grilled lamb in pitta bread) at Ali Baba's Snack Bar (00220 422 4055; Nelson Mandela Street), just south of Albert Market.

Spend the afternoon...
Escaping the cotton-wool cocoon of your beachside hotel with a day-trip to Gambia's small and sleepy capital, Banjul. It is everything you might expect of an African city, with ramshackle buildings, street vendors hawking unidentifiable meats, roadside welders and even the occasional donkey cart. Chaotic Albert Market, to the east of the city, sells just about everything, from replica football tops to handmade jewellery, and is well worth a visit – but look after your valuables and expect the hard sell.
Escape the heat at the quaint National Museum (00220 422 6244; www.ncac.gm; Independence Drive; admission GMD50/£1.20), which has informative displays on the country's past, from prehistoric settlements to the military coup of 1994. If you're prepared to negotiate, a round-trip from the coastal resorts to Banjul shouldn't cost much more than GMD500 (about £12) in a green tourist taxi, and your driver will usually be happy to wait around while you see the sights.
Return via the Kachikally Crocodile Pool (www.kachikally.com; admission GMD50/£1.20) in Bakau, a sacred sight for locals (Gambians see crocodiles as a symbol of fertility), where dozens of the reptiles reside, many of which are friendly enough to be touched.

Have dinner at...
Jojo's (00220 729 5711), on Kololi's Senegambia Road. Perhaps the best of the many restaurants on this busy strip, it serves excellent steaks, pasta and locally caught fish in a pleasant outdoor setting. Entertainment is provided by a live band. Expect to pay around £40 for two, including wine.
The Avocado Restaurant at The Coconut Residence (see above), with an international menu, is also recommended.

Spend the next day...
Exploring Gambia's waterways. If you can tear yourself away from the beach, head to Denton Bridge on the road to Banjul. From here, you can sign up for a range of activities, including water sports and fishing trips. A number of boat tours, which can usually be arranged at hotels on the coast, also begin here. They typically consist of a leisurely cruise along the nearby creeks, where you can spot pelicans, herons and kingfishers while watching women in wooden pirogues picking oysters from the roots of mangroves.
Golfers should head to Fajara Golf Club (00220 449 5456), which also houses badminton, tennis and squash courts.

At all costs avoid...
Underestimating the strength of the West African sun. Use high-factor lotion and don't be fooled by the ocean breeze. The "bumsters" – local men who try to attach themselves to tourists in return for money – can be a nuisance, but are harmless. Walking on the beach at night, however, is not advised.

Iceland volcano: stranded in paradise

Oliver Smith - Telegraph.co.uk — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

I, like tens of thousands of other Britons, am stranded overseas with little idea of when I might return home, thanks to volcanic activity thousands of miles away. But far from feeling anger, frustration and helplessness – I simply cannot believe my good fortune.

While horror stories continue to surface of epic overland journeys and airport slumber parties – plundering the reserves of both the great British resolve and holidaymaker’s bank balances – I remain reclined on a sun lounger in a West African paradise, and all at the expense of my tour operator.

If ever an advertisement was needed for the fully protected package holiday, surely this is it. From my sunny haven, the alternative route home for an independent traveller, or for one whose holiday company refuses to cough up compensation, would be ghastly.

I am in on holiday with The Gambia Experience (www.gambia.co.uk) in Africa’s smallest country, whose tiny, solitary international airport serves just a handful of destinations. As things currently stand, to get home I would be forced to take a 40-minute flight to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, followed by a four-and-a-half -hour flight to Madrid, from where I would be required to continue my journey by train, and/or bus and boat. Judging by the hectic scenes at train stations and ferry terminals across Europe, this schlep could take several days and would cost as much as £1,500.

The situation appears to be improving. Eruptions have eased and European airports are starting to open, much to the delight of those travellers far less fortunate than myself. But for me, and the majority of other Britons at my beachside resort, we tune into BBC World News each morning selfishly hoping to hear of further disruption and volcanic activity.

The backlog of flights could still force us to stay here for several days after UK airspace re-opens – and should our tour operator’s patience wear thin, we may have to contemplate the aforementioned odyssey. But as long as our airlines and tour operators continue to pick up the tab for meals and accommodation (and our employers remain understanding), we couldn’t be happier.

'You people cannot walk, you only move in cars'

Jason Florio - The Independent on Sunday — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

A New York dinner party isn't the place to open your mouth and not follow through – no matter how much Brooklyn Lager you've drunk. Yet, after a fellow guest told my partner, Helen, and I how he had walked 500 miles across Europe on the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, we declared that we'd been contemplating a journey for some time and a long walk sounded like just the thing.

Eight months later, we arrived in The Gambia for a 1,000km (620-mile) trek. Accompanied by three locals – Ablie "The Negotiator" Janneh, Samba "Call me Mr Leigh" Leigh, and Momadou "Arikkk!" Bah – two donkeys (Neil and Paddley, on loan from The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust), and a cart for the gear, we left the sublime comforts of the Mandina River Lodge, on a mangrove-lined tributary of the River Gambia, and headed east.

Helen and I had visited The Gambia a number of times before, but had never ventured far from its Atlantic coast. Now we were bound for Koina at the country's eastern edge – a trip akin to going from John O'Groats to Land's End. The Gambians who heard our tale, with help from our translator "The Negotiator", were aghast. "What, with those two donkeys? Impossible! The donkeys will die in two days. They cannot go that far. Anyway you are Tubaabs [Europeans], you people do not walk, you only move in cars." They would shriek with laughter, shake their heads and smile.

Yet, not only were we walking all the way to Koina, but we would be crossing the River Gambia there and walking all the way back to the country's most westerly point on the Atlantic, thereby making the first recorded circumnavigation of The Gambia by foot.

"Call me Mr Leigh" was our liaison man and up-country guide. Looking like a sub-Saharan Elma Thud, his main role was to make the formal introductions to the village chiefs (Al Kalos), who would be our nightly hosts. The ancient system of chiefs would be vital to the success of our journey, he explained. Each Gambian village has an Al Kalo, who is responsible, among other things, for the welfare of travellers. Before we set out, Mr Leigh took us to a market in Brikama where, for 240 dalasi (about £6), we bought 2kg of fat, bitter seeds called kola-nuts. These would win the hearts of the Al Kalos, he assured us.

The rains had recently subsided and the red dirt road that is the Gambia Highway was flanked by rich green grasses, tall as a man and vibrating with wildlife. We were rarely alone. Red colobus monkeys would appear on the road before us. Squadrons of egrets would jet overhead. Hooded vultures cruised the thermals, and boisterous grass-yellow butterflies made the most of the abundant dung left by cattle driven by Fula tribesmen who played soulful tunes on recorders made from plastic pipes.

Momadou Bah, our donkey handler, randomly came alive to shout "Arrrrrrik!!!" above the donkeys' ever rotating ears to move them from molasses speed to the pace of slightly runny honey. We had, observed a policeman at a checkpoint, Tubaab donkeys. "Look at them, they are so fat and proud, they should have crowns," he chuckled between sips of attayer – a sugary green tea whose preparation takes up much of the free time of the underemployed.

After 464km (288 miles) we reached Koina and crossed the river to the old Kingdom of Wuli, which, since the demise of Gambian kings, has been less romantically called URD – Upper River Division.

We had been invited to visit the village of another Mr Bah on the north bank of Wuli. A Marabout (learned man) of the Fula tribe, he cooed and clucked in joy while he stroked our hands as he shook them. As at each village we visited, we became the evening's entertainment. Children would arrive first to watch us pitch the tents, then women would bring along low wooden stools, positioning themselves for widescreen viewing while continuing to braid hair, shell peanuts and breast-feed. Village girls would bring calabash filled with milk, cous cous from the fields, and attayer tea. Our favourite dish was domoda, an oily peanut paste, cooked with dried fish and hot peppers and served with white rice. Delicious fuel.

At most villages we spent just one night, but Mr Bah had offered to show us the local hyena caves and tree-top hideouts used by shotgun-carrying sentries to protect the villagers' precious cattle from Senegalese raiders. More importantly, he had said he would read our fortunes.

Yet, you don't have to bushwhack to remote villages to revel in this country's mysterious side. Less than a day's drive from the capital, Banjul, stand the stone circles of Wassu, just one of hundreds that dot the region. The Gambia's very own Stonehenge is diminutive, but what the stones lack in size is made up for by tales of strange lights and helicopters, bringing white men who bury strange instruments and whisk away artefacts. Talk to "Stoneman", guardian of the stones and son of a chief – he'll make you a believer.

We pushed on at donkey speed towards the port of Barra on the north-west bank of the River Gambia's mouth, stopping on the way at the old slave station of Juffureh, home to the Kinte family, made famous by Alex Haley's book Roots. Karamo, the Al Kalo's son, took us by motorised pirogue to James Island, an eroding speck of land that supports the crumbling remains of a British fort. It's a serene spot, despite its dark history.

Onwards, we took our place alongside the trucks, cars and batik-adorned ladies on the Barra to Banjul ferry and joined the throng in the capital's streets, passing though a triumphal white stucco arch erected to celebrate the 1994 coup, with a sign reading "22nd July – the birth of the new Gambia".

Not far into the new Gambia, there was a commotion as people rushed to the kerb to clap and cheer. Through the veil of pollution, a careening motorcade of Toyota 4WDs tore past us. At its centre was a black stretch Hummer – with a factory-optional rear gun emplacement. The crowd leapt into the car's wake to gather the spoils tossed from its window by the 1994 coup leader, President Sheikh Professor Dr Alhaji Yahya Abdul Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh.

Then, after 909km, with just 20km to go, the cart sheered a wheel. There was no hope of fixing it, so we called in back-up in the form of the Mandina River Lodge's Land Rover. Babbacar, the driver, said that as it was getting dark we should get a lift with him. But we politely refused the offer, throwing our bags in the vehicle, and with our donkeys by our side, machetes in hand, and a chocolate bar to sustain us, cut into the darkening bush.

Eight hours later, we found we were walking in circles, crashing into trees, lost. Mr Leigh called back the rescue team. With the high-beam of the Land Rover's lights powering through the thick night, we discovered we had, in fact, only been 700 metres away from the lodge's hurricane lamp-lit bar.

Compact Facts
How to get there
The Gambia Experience (0845 330 2087; gambia.co.uk) offers seven nights at the Mandina Lodges at Makasutu from £949 per person in April, based on two sharing and including return flights from Gatwick to Banjul, transfers and half-board accommodation in a Floating Lodge

Kombo Beach Hotel receives Travelife Gold Award

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Kombo Beach Hotel in The Gambia has been awarded a Travelife Gold Award for its commitment to sustainable tourism. This is an impressive accolade for the 4* hotel in the Kotu region, as it is the only hotel both in The Gambia and West Africa in general, to be presented with Travelife accreditation, as well as its pinnacle award.

The award firstly recognises the hotel’s dedication to the ‘Environment’ – Kombo Beach implemented such procedures as water saving measures and electricity reduction. Secondly, it considers the extent of the hotel’s ‘Social Responsibilities’ – Kombo Beach established three key areas to develop: social welfare, the local economy, and charities / similar organisations.

The Travelife awards were developed by the FTO (British Federation of Tour Operators), which has now merged with ABTA (The Travel Association) and ANVR (Dutch Federation of Tour Operators). Hotels can complete a self-assessment online and then request that they are visited by a qualified Travelife auditor in order to have the information verified transparently.

Marc Van Maldegem, operations manager for Kombo Beach Hotel said:
“Since the hotel changed ownership in 2002 we have been passionate about implementing environmental and social management strategies. Kombo Beach Hotel prides itself in being involved in the social, economical and environmental life of its community. Our management is based on respect for local and ethical values, for people and for living together in harmony.”

The Gambia is a popular destination with UK holidaymakers, and Kombo Beach Hotel reports that approximately 65% of its guests come from the UK. Tour operators selling Kombo Beach Hotel include The Gambia Experience, Thomas Cook, and Monarch Holidays.
For more on the Travelife awards and hotels within the Travelife Collection, please visit www.travelife.co.uk
For more on Kombo Beach Hotel and its Sustainable Tourism Summary, please visit www.kombobeachhotel.gm

Ends

ABTA – The Travel Association was founded in 1950 and currently has 1,351 members with 5,700 outlets. Members include travel agents, tour operators and support services right across the spectrum from small family-owned businesses to the largest tour operators.

ABTA is the largest travel association in the UK and its members provide 90% of the foreign package holidays in the UK as well as selling millions of independent travel arrangements.

In 2008 ABTA merged with the Federation of Tour Operators [FTO], thereby cementing its role as the leading travel association and increasing benefits for both ABTA and FTO members. Both the ABTA brand, which is highly recognised by consumers, and the FTO brand, which is well known in destinations, will be retained.

As part of its comprehensive package of services to members, ABTA, as a non-party political organisation works to represent the interests of its Members to government and key opinion formers in the UK and EU.

The Gambia: An Easy Winter Sun Choice – Fam trip leaves Agents in no doubt

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

A group of Bristol based travel agents were able to experience first hand The Gambia's leading attractions following a seven day fam trip hosted by the UK's leading specialist, The Gambia Experience. The tour op's agency sales manager, Jason Dicks accompanied the nine enthusiastic agents on the six hour flight out of Bristol International Airport, showing them how accessible the winter sun hotspot is, while providing an all-round introduction to the wide range of accommodation, its golden coastline of uncrowded sandy beaches and great variety of cultural excursions and tours.

Spending 7 nights at the five grade Sheraton Gambia hotel, now also available on an all-inclusive basis, the agents' itinerary incorporated visits to boutique hotel Coco Ocean Resort & Spa and former colonial mansion, Ngala Lodge as well as The Gambia's prestigious five grade Kairaba plus a selection of mid range and great value budget hotels. The trip also included a visit to the award winning Mandina river lodges at Makasutu Forest. This magnificent eco-retreat provided agents with a real taste of unspoilt Africa, where wildlife is plentiful and in complete harmony with the tranquil surroundings. An evening show created a magical mood, as local tribes arrived by canoe with fire lit torches and proceeded to demonstrate their energetic native dance around the camp fire - just one of the many adventure excursions, available to book through The Gambia Experience.
Other cultural excursions included; "South Gambia" - an off the beaten track adventure into Southern Gambia incorporating a river cruise and visit to a reptile farm plus "Simply Gambia" - demonstrating how the locals are trying to improve their crops and environment through various eco projects.

The action packed week did, however, allow a little time for relaxation on the uncrowded sandy beaches as well as the chance to sample the vibrant nightlife of Kololi.

Since returning, The Gambia Experience has received positive feedback from agents who felt the trip had given them more insight and increased confidence to sell the destination.

Jessica Webb - The Co-operative Travel commented:
"I have had an amazing trip and can't wait to recommend it to our customers. There is something for every taste and budget and it has really opened my eyes to another alternative to the Canaries and Egypt. The Gambia is a beautiful country and the people are so friendly proving it really is The Smiling Coast!"

Jean Byrne - Bath Travel said:
"I was surprised by how much The Gambia has to offer and its high quality hotels, beaches and restaurants."

The Gambia Experience offers regional departures from Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester during winter plus a year round programme of holidays and flights from Gatwick.

Agents interested in selling The Gambia Experience or any of the Serenity Holidays products should contact Jason on 0845 330 2066 or email trade@serenity.co.uk.

Ends

Sandele Bay Eco-Retreat Listed in Guardian Green Travel List

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Sandele Bay Eco-Retreat in The Gambia has been included in The Guardian’s Green Travel List as one of the “Small places to stay: worldwide”. The list was featured in the paper on Saturday 20th February along with 16 other lodges, camps and small hotels which have been selected as the greenest places to stay.

The Guardian’s Richard Hammond describes Sandele as:

“Winner of the 2009 Guardian and Observer Ethical Travel Award, Sandele is the vision of two Brits who have built 10 eco-friendly forest cabanas next to a three-mile sandy beach, as well as 20 guest rooms for a charity that runs environmental courses. Renewable energy pumps a water well, and the long-term plan is that, after 25 years, the land will revert to the village.”

To read the article in full visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/feb/20/guardian-green-list-2010-places-worldwide?page=all

For more information on Sandele Bay Eco- Retreat visit http://www.gambia.co.uk/Hotel/6001/51475/Sandele-Bay-Eco-Retreat.aspx

Author Philippa Gregory Remembers The Gambia

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The author Philippa Gregory, founder of Gardens for Gambia, recalls her first visit to the country nearly 20 years ago in an interview with The Sunday Times. In the interview, which appeared in last Sunday’s paper, the author talks about her experience of travelling and how she established the charity. Whilst on holiday she met a schoolmaster who wanted to dig a well in his schoolyard to supply a vegetable garden which would supply the children’s lunch. She donated £200 to the project and her charity has since built nearly 90 wells.

To read the interview visit http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article7016654.ece and to read more about Philippa Gregory and the Gardens for Gambia charity visit http://www.philippagregory.com/gardens-for-gambia/

Gambia - An Unspoiled Winter Sun Destination

Adam Moss - Nottingham Evening Post — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

IN The Gambia, it is hot, all of the time." That was the first thing our tour guide said on the PA system as our bus pulled out of Banjul airport. And he wasn't lying. The Gambia does have a rainy season, between mid-June and early October - but those are usually the hottest months. The rest of the time, the thermometer doesn't tend to drop below 24C during the day. Six hours earlier, I'd been knocking back an anti-malarial tablet on a dull and chilly morning at East Midlands Airport. Now, I was wishing I hadn't decided to travel wearing a pair of jeans.The bus was making its way along one of only two roads covered with Tarmac in the entire country.

The dusty orange landscape at the side of the highway was dotted with small buildings with corrugated-iron roofs and tables with parasols outside. These buildings could have been either people's homes or shops - it was difficult to tell. This short journey served to hammer home the message that The Gambia is still very much a developing country.

So you'd perhaps expect the accommodation for a tourist who heads off to this winter sun destination to be pretty basic too. Wrong.
We were staying at the Coco Ocean, which might sound like something out of a Barry Manilow song, but it's actually a luxury resort and spa. Its pristine white buildings elegantly rise out of the golden beach and are covered with Moroccan-style domes and arches.

And in stark contrast to the world outside, it has every mod con you could ever want: pools, spa, gym, air-con, wi-fi and a ridiculous amount of space considering it only has 59 rooms. And as the hotel's general manager pointed out, if you don't find its marble floors, big suites, huge beds and fresh food (often grown on site) luxurious enough, the staff will bend over backwards to make sure you're every whim is tended to.

The Coco Ocean is one of the top-end places to stay, but from what I saw, regardless of which hotel you choose, you're hardly likely to be roughing it. And with such plush surroundings, it'd be easy for any visitor to The Gambia to simply chill out by the pool and enjoy the sunshine.

But that would be a mistake; when you venture outside, the personality of the country really comes to life. About a third of the population live below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day. But the nuts and the fruit and fish are plentiful, so no one goes hungry. Gambians pride themselves on the place's reputation as "the smiling coast". Every tourist will almost certainly be approached at some point during their stay by a "bumster", who will try to get a few Dalasi (the native currency) out of them.

But the bumsters in the Gambia just seem to have a more pleasant demeanour than their counterparts across the world. Even after they'd accepted the fact I wouldn't be parting with any cash, the bumsters I met were still keen to have a friendly chat.

The Gambia is a country of such stark contrasts that it can almost make your head spin. And I have to say, it's one of the most remarkable places I've ever been to.
Anyone who wants to sample a slice of Gambian life can book one of the following excursions through West African Tours:
Makasutu Culture Forest: Makasutu is a 1,000-acre eco-tourism centre. During our visit, we went on a walk through the forest, took a canoe ride in the mangroves and came face-to-face with the resident baboons. Visitors can also stay at one of the floating lodges.

Visit to a local school: The second we stepped off the bus, we were virtually mobbed by joyously happy schoolchildren who were enormously over-excited at the prospect of visitors. The school buildings at Wellingara Lower Basic School in Kombo are incredibly basic by English standards, the classroom walls need a lick of paint and have wire mesh where the windows should be. This was one of the most rewarding parts of my trip and it was a privilege to watch a lesson and see how keen the children were to learn.

Visit to a market and Ida's cooking experience: The sights, sounds and smells of Tanji market need to be experienced first-hand to truly be believed. Boats only a short distance out to sea net the fish, which are then expertly gutted and de-scaled by the people on the crowded beach, before they are sold. We visited with Ida Njie (pictured below) , who gave up a career in tourism to run a Gambian cooking experience at her home in Brufut.

We travelled with The Gambia Experience, the UK's only specialist and biggest tour operator to The Gambia. Prices from £949 per person based on seven nights bed & breakfast in a junior suite and £1,289 per person for seven nights bed & breakfast in a beach club villa. Prices include return flights, in-flight meals, hotel transfers, Government tourist tax and airport taxes. Flights available from Birmingham, Manchester and Gatwick.
Reservations tel: 0845 330 2087. Visit www.gambia.co.uk for details.

Gambia Celebrates Independence Day

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

On 18th February The Gambia will celebrate its 45th Independence Day. The Gambia gained independence from Britain in 1965 after 300 years of colonial rule. The day is a national holiday in The Gambia and across the world Gambians will be marking the occasion.

As part of this year’s celebrations, the Porcupines basketball team of Bakau is to host a basketball tournament at the Independence Stadium in Bakau featuring the Senegalese All Stars. The tournament will be held between 5th and 15th February 2010 and will feature six teams: Serrekunda East, Wallindan, Sport House, YMCA, LK Boys and the hosts Porcupines. Players from the six teams will be selected for The Gambia All Star team which will play against the Senegalese All Star Team during the Independence Day celebrations.

Coco Was My Cup of Tea

Jackie Butler - The Plymouth Herald — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

MRS Ida Cham Njai strolled through the market, head held high, gently weaving through the chattering crowds towards the waterfront, her proud and striking red-clad figure standing out against the mass of ramshackle wooden stalls and patchwork of huts to either side of the dusty pathway. I followed close behind, feeling self-conscious in my borrowed lime green apparel, a traditional Gambian three-piece of floor-length wrap skirt, with matching overdress and a simple scarf, which Ida had conjured into an elaborate headdress to rival her own. But in the morning heat, already nudging 30C, if not cool, I was far more comfortable than my Western clothes would have allowed.
Trotting down a gentle slope, suddenly the scene opened out on to Tanji beach and the most extraordinary assault to the senses I have ever experienced. There was an overwhelming odour of fish, enough to catch in the throat at first; on the crowded sands scores of women crouched over buckets wielding big, sharp knives, deftly removing heads and guts from the day’s catch and throwing the waste towards the water’s edge, where seagulls swooped for an easy breakfast.
A little way out at sea, teams of fishermen lolled lazily on a dozen or more long, open boats, their work done for the day; children no older than seven or eight carried big round trays of fruit or bread on their heads, urging us to buy, while others hassled for money or gifts; men old and young stand around smoking cigarettes.
At a cloth-spread table staffed by a row of laughing, gossiping assistants, Ida poked and prodded some fierce-looking fishy specimens and prompted me to hand over a couple of crumpled Dalasi banknotes. With some of our lunch in the bag, we moved back into the market throng to select vegetables, rice and spices from assorted sellers. A woman with a plump sleeping baby bound tightly to her back approached, pointing at me, smiling and saying something in her native Mandinka. The two women laughed. “What did she say?” I asked. “She says you look very beautiful and asked if you were wife number two,” Ida replied, laughing, explaining that men in this chiefly Muslim country were allowed up to four spouses. The young mother was making a gentle joke. So, this was shopping, Gambian style – an honest slice of everyday life in this tiny West African country. With no refrigerator in the average home many housewives go through this ritual twice a day. It made a striking, but welcome, contrast to the addictive splendour of the Coco Ocean Resort and Spa a short drive away, where I could have remained indefinitely cocooned in the most divine vacation luxury. I love all that five-star treatment, of course, but I also get immense pleasure from engaging with the real people of the places I visit. In The Gambia this is not only possible, but it’s a major part of their sustainable tourism strategy and it’s helping to keep threatened traditions and customs alive.
The Yabouy home cooking day run by Ida is an excellent example. A regular excursion, run by West African Tours and easily bookable as part of a Gambia Experience holiday, it offers tourists a chance to shop, cook and eat in traditional style. The following day my party set off bright and early, climbing up a ladder into the back a huge four-wheel drive lorry. We trundled down the dusty tracks that pass for roads in The Gambia – only the two major routes are Tarmac – to catch some snapshots of town and country life in the company of our most charming and chatty tour guide, football fanatic Mucki.
A former British colony where English is the main language alongside local dialects, The Gambia is not only small – half the size of Wales – but it’s incredibly flat. As we drove, people and buildings emerged abruptly from either side and it was impossible to anticipate what was coming up ahead. We negotiated the low-rise shanty metropolis of Serrekunda, a sea of tatty shopfronts and single-room business premises, the noisy streets simply swarming with people. Nothing could have prepared us for the enthusiastic reception waiting at one of the local schools where tourists regularly call in to look around and give donations of greatly appreciated pens, pencils and books.
Every child, immaculately turned out in green uniforms, wanted to say hello and shake our hands, and in the sparsely furnished, electricity-free classroom they proudly demonstrated their immaculate English pronunciation as the teacher led them through their “Jollyphonics” chanting routines.
Back on the lorry and deeper into the unknown, lofty vegetation sweeping past our ears, Mucki pointed out the plethora of colourful birds, naming each one carefully and accurately, throwing in a smattering of football-themed humour. “Red-beaked hornbill: Gambia 2, England, nil.” Eventually we emerged onto a deserted seafront where a lone cafe overlooked an idyllic beach. We quenched our thirst with fizzy pop and selected a light lunch from a laden hot and cold buffet before hopping across the baking sand and plunging neck-deep into the balmy waves for a leisurely swim. I dried off dozing and swinging gently in a string hammock. Total bliss.
We drove some of the way back along the smooth wet sand, calling in to check out some of the different kinds of hotels The Gambia Experience packages offer, including the smart, high class Western style Sheraton Gambia and the exclusive and very private boutique chic of ocean-front Ngala. Earlier in the wek we’d enjoyed dinner at the mid-range Kombo Beach Hotel in the Kotu district, where a more British ambience prevails.
That night, we dined at JoJo’s bistro and grill, known for its fish and steaks, in the busy and popular Kololi resort, home of the Strip, where there are restaurants of all nationalities, except Gambian, loads of bars and a couple of clubs. But for me nothing could exceed the appeal of the top class Moroccan-style Coco Ocean and Spa at Bijilo, where I luxuriated in my spacious single storey studio-style Beach Club Villa, which boasted a furnished outdoor terrace as big as its bed-sitting room and bathroom suite. Stroll along the quiet bougainvillea dotted pathways, and there were gorgeous pools, an oasis of calm in the spa where they offer soothing massages and treatments. Foodwise, breakfast was included in the package, and I enjoyed a fabulous a la carte dinner in their classy Safran restaurant. I guess I’m a five-star girl deep down, and I’d go back for more tomorrow. If you’re looking for winter sun, sea and sand, but with a slice of authentic local flavour, then The Gambia is an ideal choice for a variety of budgets; it’s only a six-hour flight from theUKand, being in the same time zone, there’s no jet lag to worry about. Over the winter – from November to April – long hours of dry sunny weather are guaranteed, with comfortable temperatures peaking at around 32C. You are wise to have some precautionary jabs, take malaria tablets (it’s in an active zone) and make sure you spray yourself with insect repellent and slap on high factor sunscreen regularly.

■ The Bradt Guide to The Gambia (£13.99) is packed with excellent travel advice and offers a comprehensive guide to the whole of The Gambia.

■ Next week I’ll be writing about my visit to The Gambia’s Makasutu Culture Forest and to schools in the Ballabu Conservation Project area, where they are working to preserve food growing traditions with help from the Eden Project’s Gardens For Life educational.

JACKIE Butler travelled with The Gambia Experience, the UK’s only specialist tour operator to The Gambia and the only one to
offer flights from Bristol International Airport. The last Bristol departure for this winter season is on February 19.

■ Jackie stayed at the Coco Ocean Resort and Spa. Prices are from £988 per person based on seven nights bed and breakfast in a junior suite and £1,324 per person for seven nights bed and breakfast in a Beach Club villa. Prices include return flights from Bristol, in-flight meals, hotel transfers, Government tourist tax and airport taxes.The above prices apply to departures up until the end of January 2010.

■ The following late offers are currently available departing from Bristol:
Two grade hotel allocated on arrival (AOA): seven nights – £249, departing January 29 and £349, departing February 5.
Kairaba Beach Hotel (5 grade): seven nights departing January 29 and February 5 –£829 (deluxe room), representing a saving of up to £142 per person.
Sheraton Gambia (5 grade): seven nights departing January 29 – £699, representing a saving of up to £204 per person.
The above prices are based on bed and breakfast and include return Bristol to Banjul flight, in flight meals, airport taxes,
government tourist tax and hotel transfers.
The company’s Gatwick flights operate year round; Birmingham and Manchester flights operate until April.

● For all bookings and further information call reservations on 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk.

Sowing Seeds For A Positive Future

Jackie Butler - Western Morning News — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

THERE’S a little corner of the Eden Project’s rainforest biome that is forever Gambia. It’s a simple dirt plot shaded beneath palms and banana trees, where cooking pots are lined up ready to rustle up a tasty domada stew, and clean washing is draped to dry on the wobbly wooden fence. It’s a scene which echoes thousands of extended family compounds in rural areas of the tiny West African country, and its authenticity is down to a rather special man named Malang DK Jambang. In his colourful flowing robes, he’s a striking, yet humble character, a great ambassador for his roots who holds an unshakeable passion and a steely determination to preserve tradition, alleviate poverty and encourage sustainable living in his local community.

His fortnight-long trip to Cornwall from Serrekunda, near the coast in The Gambia, 18 months ago cemented a unique bond between Cornwall’s giant greenhouses and a celebrated eco-tourism site and 1,000-acre reserve known as the Makasutu Culture Forest, and the surrounding 85 sq km Ballabu Conservation Area, encompassing 14 villages, west of the capital Banjul.

Malang’s fact-finding and knowledge-sharing visit has not only given Eden visitors a flavour of his homeland, it forged an on-going friendship between the Gambian wildlife expert and the Project’s horticulture director, Don Murray – and other key Eden staff members – and it resulted in the five schools in the Ballabu joining Eden’s global Gardens for Life project. An initiative which links 20,000 pupils in the UK – including many in the Westcountry – Africa, India and the USA, it encourages them to create gardens, grow food and tell each other about their experiences via new technology and good old-fashioned “snail mail”.

For Western children and teachers, Gardens for Life represents a terrific learning opportunity; in The Gambia its significance is more a case of future survival. A former British colony, it’s now a developing African country with growing aspirations – clearly illustrated by the ubiquitous presence of mobile phones but the evident dearth of cash and work, outside of the tourism industry.

Malang works long hours, with no regular pay and limited practical resources, as chief executive of the Makasutu Wildlife Trust charity which was set up – initially with some grant aid – to protect the wildlife and wild habitats of The Gambia through biodiversity and conservation and the wholehearted involvement of the local community and its elders.
Malang, 45, is a walking encyclopaedia about the wildlife in his homeland – in fact he’s written as yet unpublished books on the country’s incredible wealth of birds and butterflies, and trains the Gambian guides who accompany tourists on walking excursions through the forest and by canoe upriver. A father of five children aged from nine to 17, and a traditional healer, he is deeply concerned for their future and worries that if communities lose their ability to sustain themselves by rejecting customs and survival
strategies, there will be no going back.

The Gambia is a magical, colourful country awash with goodwill, but nothing gets done in a hurry here. However, with Malang’s advice and encouragement, fledgling school plots are now beginning to emerge. On a recent holiday trip with the Gambia Experience I was privileged to join him on an inspiring – and bumpy – journey through the bush to two of the schools involved. “When I was at school our lunch was made with the food we grew ourselves, but that custom has mostly disappeared now,” Malang said. “Children often walk long distances to get to school. They bring money to buy food at school, but if their families have no money they won’t eat all day.” As we stepped out of the car at Santayalla Nursery School at Kubuneh village in the heat of the morning sun, I was mobbed by a sea of little children in smart brown uniforms, all wanting to shake my hand and ask my name. The headmaster called them to sit on little plastic chairs in a massive circle, in the dappled shade of the biggest mahogany tree I’ve ever seen, for a singsong recital of British nursery rhymes Baa Baa Black Sheep and I See the Moon in our honour. Malang’s short speech about incorporating local community knowledge to promote food security went a little over the heads of the three- to nine-year-olds, but when asked which food they would like to grow they were unanimous in their excited reply: “Bananas!”

In a new 30m by 1m garden plot, marked out by basic metal fencing and wooden posts – bought with donations from the Friends of Eden back in Cornwall – a row of baby banana trees rose proudly from the dry and dusty ground, the first evidence of their endeavours, which are hampered from the start by the lack of basic facilities. In the UK we can turn on a tap to get as much water as our plants need to thrive. At Santayalla it must be drawn in buckets from a nearby well, which is far too deep and dangerous for the children to go near. On their long shopping list of essentials are a pump, tap and hosepipe. There are no gardening tools either; these and more plants
and seeds to grow garden egg (aubergine), potato, okra, onion and hot peppers will be acquired when funds allow.

Over at Makumbaya village Lower Basic School, a couple of miles away down many more potholed tracks, the enthusiastic seven to 13-year-olds of the environmental club and their garden master, Bakary Jambang, were a little further advanced in their endeavours. Here they make their own compost using earth, sand, leaves and animal manure – an age-old process Malang has helped to capture as a Powerpoint presentation to share with Gardens for Life schools in the UK via Eden living networks manager Rob Lowe.
Their small banana plantation was well established and there were beds taking shape for more crops. They were immensely proud of their new hosepipe, but it wasn’t long enough to stretch from the standpipe to the vegetable beds, and they had no watering cans.

It’s early days for Gardens for Life in The Gambia and it’s going to need a reliable influx of money to ensure that Malang can keep it running and start to really make a difference. There are already some fundraising initiatives in place through the Eden Project to provide support. Acclaimed photojournalist Jason Florio and his partner Helen Jones recently returned from a sponsored trek on foot from Makasutu through the Gambian to highlight and benefit the project, and Don Murray is planning to visit with a group from Friends of Eden this autumn.

● You can help by making a donation or you can get more involved through the Friends of Eden. Cheques made payable to the Eden Trust can be sent to Nicola Hawkins, Gardens for Life Gambia Appeal, Eden Project, Bodelva, Cornwall PL24 2SG with the following reference on the back of the cheque: GFLGAMBIA.Or you can donate online at www.edenproject.com/our-work/people/ gardens-for-life/gardens-for-life-in-the-gambia. And don’t forget to visit The Gambia corner when you visit the rainforest biome.

Makasutu upstaged Muse
MAKASUTU’S link to the Eden Project dates back to the night Devon rock giants Muse performed their Eden Session in summer 2006. On the band’s guest list that evening, as friends of one of the stage crew, were British uncle and nephew adventurers James English and Lawrence Williams. They had acquired the swamp and bush forest known as Makasutu (or Big Forest) in the heart of the Gambian countryside alongside a beautiful bolon (meaning river tributary in the local Mandinka dialect). When they discovered the area it was being destroyed by tree-felling and over-farming; while they had persuaded the local people to halt the decline of the area, they were struggling to know how to proceed. On their way down to watch the show, they started chatting to a member of staff about their little piece of The Gambia and got so involved that they never saw the gig. Keen to discover more, Eden horticulture director Don Murray visited Makasutu, met Malang, and the connection blossomed. In harmony with their conservation aims – and for essential income – Lawrence and James operate a small, upmarket tourist resort in the forest where visitors can stay in beautiful floating lodges on the bolong waters. They employ more than 100 local people as drivers, chefs, managers and guides; they host regular cultural evenings with traditional music and dancing, and
encourage tourists to support local craftspeople and fortune tellers.

● The Gambia Experience, with flights out of Bristol in our winter months, is the only UK tour operator booking accommodation at Makasutu. For more information visit www.gambia.co.uk/mandina.

Africa's Smiling Coast

Simon Galloway - Bristol Evening Post — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia may only be half the size of Wales but boy does it have a lot to offer – from sun-drenched white sandy beaches to the stunning 1,000-acre Makasutu Culture Forest.

Only a six-hour flight from Bristol and with no time difference, The Gambia, located midway between the Tropic of Cancer and the equator, enjoys virtually uninterrupted sunshine and high daytime temperatures with almost no rainfall from November to June.

My Gambian adventure began as we travelled the short distance from Banjul airport to our hotel.
I could not help but gaze out of the bus window as we passed stalls selling fresh melons, shacks with old men fixing bicycles and small children waving at me. From that moment, I was hooked on the street life that was going on before me. I asked myself how these people could be so happy when they appear to have so little... the answer is simple. This is The Gambia – known as “the smiling coast of Africa”.

After resting up overnight at the luxurious Coco Resort and Spa, I was ready to take the 45-minute journey south to the award-winning Makasutu Cultural Forest set on a beautiful tributary of the River Gambia. Makasutu, known as “sacred deep forest” in the local Mandinka dialect, is home to wild Guinea baboons and numerous birds. It was conserved by two Englishmen, James English and Lawrence Williams, back in 1992.As we take a slow canoe ride along the river, passing pied kingfishers and fiddler crabs nesting in the mangroves, we find ourselves at the stunning Mandina River Lodges as evening draws in. We settle down to sample beautiful local food, and enjoy an evening of local tribal partying that includes stilt-walkers and fire-eaters, and dancers who stamp their feet and jiggle their bottoms.

Next up was a home cooking workshop with Ida Njie at her home in Brufut. We changed into traditional Gambian dress and headed to Tanji fishing village to buy some local produce. What followed next at Tanji will stick in my mind for a long time. As I stepped on to the beach, my senses were hit for six... fish, fish everywhere – the smell was almost overwhelming. In what appeared like a conveyor-belt production, men were landing fish, there were fish in wheelbarrows, fish being gutted and fish being de-scaled. A few yards up from the beach, we walked through the endless stalls selling fish, vegetables, nuts and other fresh produce. Ida took the lead and bought food for our lunch. We headed back to her house and began to prepare the meal. On the menu was benachin – rice cooked with fish, vegetables and tomatoes. Ida demonstrated the traditional way to eat the dish – with our hands – and we all tucked in.

We finished with attaya (green tea). Mucki, our tour guide from West African Tours, had told us of his love of football and informed us that his local team, Blackpool, were playing in a local cup final that afternoon. The match between Blackpool and Chimo United turned out to be a fast-paced game played in a run-down ground comprising two old concrete stands and a pretty good synthetic pitch. Unfortunately for Mucki, Blackpool found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-0 thrashing. A visit to Wellingara Lower Basic School in the district of Kombo turned out to be the highlight of the trip. As we pulled into the school playground, we were greeted by hundreds of children running out of the two-storey concrete building. After what seemed like a thousand handshakes, we made our way to the head teacher’s offices where he explained that the school has more than 1,600 children but is constantly struggling to buy essentials such as books. I stepped in to the classroom and was faced with a sea of smiling children. They burst into song, singing Wind The Bobbin Up in perfect English – which is widely spoken, along with local tribal languages, including Mandinka, Wolof, Fula and Jola.

After our school experience, we took a thrilling 4x4 off-road trip across some pretty bumpy tracks. We stopped at various points so Mucki could point out some of the local birdlife, including the small red-throated bee-eaters and huge hooded vultures that circle high above. Our 4x4 pulled up on what I can only describe as a picture perfect beach. The white sand was so hot I had to hop, skip and jump my way to the hammock while the others had a dip in the warm Atlantic Ocean. It’s then that I realise the real meaning of GMT – Gambia Maybe Time. I for one can’t wait to sample it again.

■ Simon Galloway travelled to The Gambia as a guest of The Gambia Experience, the UK’s only specialist and biggest tour operator to The Gambia (www.gambia.co.uk; 0845 330 2087).
■ Seven nights bed and breakfast in a junior suite at the Coco Ocean Resort & Spa costs £1,014 per person.
■ Seven nights bed and breakfast in a beach club villa costs £1,350 per person.
■ Prices include return flights from Bristol International Airport, in-flight meals, hotel transfers and taxes.
■ All clients receive a complimentary foot massage as part of their booking.

Avon Fire and Rescue in New Year Honours

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Avon Fire and Rescue Service has been recognised by The Gambia in the country’s New Year honours. The service received the honour of Commander of the National Order of the Republic of The Gambia, the highest awarded by President Jammeh, in recognition of the vast amount of life saving equipment sent via a charity set up by former chief fire officer Dave Hutchings.

The Gambia and Avon Fire Services in Partnership was set up after Mr Hutchings witnessed a fatal road accident whilst on holiday in The Gambia. After returning to the UK he set up a charity to raise money to ship to The Gambia, any equipment no longer being used by Avon Fire and Rescue Service. Since the charity began twelve new fire stations have been built in The Gambia and 800 jobs have been created.

Africa's Smiling Coast

Simon Galloway - Western Daily Press — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Dress up to find the real Gambia

Jackie Butler - Western Morning News — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

■ The Bradt Guide to The Gambia (£13.99) is packed with excellent travel advice and offers a comprehensive guide to the whole of The Gambia.

Cooking benachin
THE fresh ingredients we purchased at Tanji were transformed into a delicious traditional lunch to eat beneath the shade of a big old mango tree in Ida’s courtyard garden at Brufut Village. A group of ten, we helped sort, peel, chop and pummel the vegetables, pick and wash the rice in her outdoor kitchen, while she and her family members fried up the fish.

For authenticity, the benachin was served on a couple of large communal platters. We sat on carpets on the ground and scooped the food with our right hands, learning how to squeeze and roll the rice into little balls. It was absolutely delicious; most of the ingredients are readily available in the UK – only the bitter tomatoes may be tricky to get hold of, but it works equally well without. Ida’s recipe below is a flexible one – she offers no set quantities; use your instinct and gauge according to how many are eating.

Ingredients
big pieces of fish, gutted but with heads on if you
like, or you can use chicken pieces or beef chunks
vegetables cut in big chunks: bitter tomatoes,
pumpkin, sweet potatoes, potatoes, okra,
aubergine (known as garden egg in The
Gambia), cassava root
garlic cloves, onion and fresh tomatoes, mashed in
a pestle and mortar
tomato paste
carrots, diced very small
fresh sorrel leaves (like spinach)
par-boiled white or brown rice
fresh lime cut in wedges
soya bean oil

Method
Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the mashed garlic, onions and tomatoes, with a healthy dollop of tomato paste. Cook on a slow heat for about an hour, adding a little water now and then. When the mixture is very soft add more water and the vegetables along with the fish. This can be fried in advance or fried in the pot before adding the veg. If using chicken, you must fry it in advance, but beef can be added now. Add sea salt to taste. Steam the cleaned sorrel leaves, mash in a pestle and mortar and set aside.
Let the stew simmer for at least 30 minutes. Remove all the ingredients, leaving the broth behind, covering to retain the heat. Add the rice and carrots to the broth. When the rice is cooked, serve on a platter, laying the vegetables and fish on top, with dollops of sorrel paste and lime wedges around the edges.

VIP Delights In Unspoilt Gambia

Andy Walker - Birmingham Post — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

As the towering 4x4 truck passed through a narrow gate into the dusty school playground, it was as if a Hollywood A-lister had arrived in town. Hundreds of smiling children, smartly dressed in a green uniform, swarmed around the truck like bees around a honeypot.

Yet there wasn’t a multi-millionaire celebrity or even a sports superstar in sight, just ten English tourists. However, as we clambered down the steps to be swallowed up by the beaming crowd, we were given an overwhelming welcome that would have brought a tear to the eye of even the most hardened VIP.

This was Wellingara Lower Basic School in the Kombo North district of the Gambia’s Western region and for the second time in 24 hours I had an experience that will live long in my memory. The previous day, my senses had been sent into overdrive with a trip to Tanji fish market. Wearing traditional African dress, I found the experience both fascinating and intimidating (purely because we were centre of attention). The sight of fisherman bringing in their next catch and seagulls swooping for leftovers, the sounds of marketing traders haggling and bellowing to attract custom and the unmistakable smell of fish, both fresh and rotten – all of it unforgettable.

This hive of activity felt a million miles away from any English market and was the moment that I realised I had stepped into West Africa. I travelled to the Gambia, the tiny gateway to this vast continent, not knowing what to expect but left knowing that I wanted to return.

For regular holidaymakers to this part of the world, the Gambia is something of a secret and I
soon began to see why they would want to keep it under wraps. The country’s potential for mass tourism is obvious – no time difference, fantastic winter sunshine, English speaking, exotic settings, one of the safest countries in Africa, the list could go on. Yet remarkably it still remains unspoilt and uncommercialised. The school visit had been part of an ‘off the beaten track’ adventure that allowed us to see the real Gambia. We had the opportunity to chat to Wellingara’s headmaster about education in the country, donate some gratefully- received stationery and observe a lesson or two. Meanwhile the journey to Tanji’s coastline of hustle and bustle was all part of an enjoyable morning and afternoon at Yabouy, a homecooking workshop and the brainchild of housewife Ida Cham Njai, an inspirational businesswoman who left a career in tourism to pursue a hobby. “Friends would regularly come over to my house to eat and say how nice my food was, so I decided to turn my homecooking into a business – people thought I was mad,” explained Ida. After getting into character by slipping on Gambian clothing, we made the short journey to Tanji with Ida to gather ingredients for Benachin, a rice-based West African dish that can be made with either beef, chicken or fish and translates as ‘one pot’.

After the frankly unique shopping experience, we returned to Ida’s home in Brufut to be guided through a lesson in how to prepare fish Benachin, before settling to tuck in to the delicious creation in her courtyard.

Our tour guide, Mucki Bojang, of West African Tours, helped paint a true reflection of Gambian culture throughout our trip. A young father-of-one with the responsibility of providing for a wider family of 33 members Mucki typified the Gambian people’s laid back approach to life – ‘GMT means Gambian Maybe Time over here’, was how he welcomed us – as well as their unquestionable friendly nature.

They don’t call it the Smiling Coast of Africa for nothing. While fruitful fields of the country ensures that there is no shortage of food, the Gambia is still a developing country but there’s a simplicity to life that most Brits would struggle to fathom. Mucki told us how he had become frustrated and disillusioned with the TV culture in England that had appeared to have broken up community spirit. Most Gambians aren’t flush with money, but the majority appear to be happy with life.

As well as experiencing the real Gambia, I was also fortunate enough to sample the luxurious five-star side of this beautiful holiday destination. We were staying at the Coco Ocean Resort and Spa in Bijilo and it was easily one of the most relaxing and tranquil premises I have ever had the pleasure to spend a night in. ‘Wait’. I hear you cry. ‘You hypocrite, how can you gush about the real Gambia but then retire back to a luxury pad?’. Well, rather settling is the fact that Coco Ocean, like several other hotels we visited, isn’t simply milking this land for its glorious weather and beautiful beaches, reinvestment is key. Furnishings are carved by Gambian craftsman, fresh food is supplied by Gambian traders, Gambian builders are unobtrusively building a second phase of development to Coco Ocean, which only opened its doors in December 2008. In fact, there doesn’t appear to be too many individuals that have stumbled upon The Gambia and started abusing the people and country for their own gain. You are unlikely to find a better example of foreigners that have arrived, embraced the beauty of the area and set about opening it up to the wider world in an ethical way than the men behind the Makasutu Culture Forest. Uncle and nephew partnership, James English and Lawrence Williams, have spent 17 years turning an ever-increasing area of forest on The Gambia River into a truly unique tourist project.

A base camp, eco lodges and a cultural centre have been built, but the surrounding area has been left untouched. Trees haven’t been cut down, local villagers remain and even baboons still prowl the area. After a day at Makasutu exploring the forest on foot and canoe, eating a buffet lunch as the sun set before watching a traditional dance act around a camp fire, it was clear to see that this was tourism at its most tasteful. The Gambia may be a British holidaymakers’ secret, but not for much longer.

Getting There

The Gambia Experience – The UK’s only specialist and biggest tour operator to The Gambia. Reservations tel: 0845 330 2087. Web address: www.gambia.co.uk.

Coco Ocean Resort & Spa is exclusive to The Gambia Experience. Prices from £949 per person based on 7 nights b&b in a junior suite and £1289 per person for 7 nights b&b in a beach club villa. Prices include return flights, inflight meals, hotel transfers, Government tourist tax and airport taxes.

Flights from Birmingham, Manchester & Gatwick. More details on the country can be found in: Bradt Travel Guide - “The Gambia” priced at £13.99 and available at www.bradtguides.com

It's gritty, it's raw and it's real: it's The Gambia

Emma Dance - The Bath Chronicle — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

It's gritty, it's raw and it's real: it's the Gambia

Fish heads poke out of the sand along the beach, open-mouthed as if gasping for breath, their glassy eyes staring into the clear blue skies, seeing nothing, their skin cracked by the searing heat of the African sun.

The sea is filled with fishing boats bringing in full nets of fish and as they reach the shore scores of children run to meet them and women sit poised, ready to prepare the catches for sale. As they expertly slit the silver flesh and the guts drop on to the sand, the seagulls swoop in not allowing anything to go to waste, undeterred by the bustling market only yards away. In the market the air is thick with the smell of fish, the sea, rotting vegetables and stale sweat. The excited chatter of children, the shouting of the traders and the sound of shoppers bargaining down the prices all in the strange-sounding language create a cacophony.

Everywhere I look there is colour. Children weave their way through the stalls laden with silver fish fresh from the sea, strange looking fruits and vegetables picked that morning and huge containers of herbs and spices. The women effortlessly glide through the crowds with towers of cloth or baskets of vegetables balanced on their heads, the bright colours of their traditional dress glowing against their skin. It is as if every one of my senses is being bombarded with a new sensation – it is another world.

It is dirty and gritty and raw and entirely real. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It is the Gambia. Nestled on the west coast of Africa, surrounded on three sides by Senegal and by the Atlantic Ocean on the other, the Gambia boasts year-round sun, miles of golden beaches and some of the friendliest and happiest people you will ever meet. It is clear why the Gambia is called the Smiling Coast.

Although it is gaining popularity as a tourist destination the Gambia has so far remained unspoilt. You won’t find McDonalds, Starbucks or Ikea. Instead you will find wonderful restaurants serving food made with the freshest of ingredients, and bustling markets where you haggle for the best price.

There are just two main roads, and only five sets of traffic lights in the entire country. Very few people can afford cars. There are more people and goats walking along the roads than motorised vehicles and it is not uncommon for the few that you do see to be missing bits of bodywork. The concept of MoTs has not yet reached the Gambia. But then, as no one seems to need to get anywhere very quickly it really doesn’t matter. The pace of life is much slower and everyone seems to be relaxed – an attitude which is impossible not to adopt within just a few hours of arriving.

The Gambia may be on GMT, but while in Britain that means Greenwich Mean Time, over there the standard joke is that the country runs on Gambian Maybe Time. And it is true. Don’t expect anything to happen quickly in the Gambia – even just ordering a drink.

Wherever you go service is friendly and unfailingly delivered with a smile – but it’s not slick and it’s not speedy. There is no shortage of places to stay, from forest lodges to beach-side hotels. I stayed at Coco Ocean Resort and Spa, a Moroccan-inspired paradise built into a hillside and which was only opened in December last year. It is an oasis of tranquillity set in tropical gardens teeming with native wildlife, including green vervet monkeys, brightly coloured birds and chirping crickets, and leading on to a sandy beach, with the white Moorish domes peeping out among the palms and baobab trees.

Everywhere you go there is a feeling of space. All guests have access to a three-tiered pool, which cascades down towards the beach, while those staying in one of the Beach Club villas have exclusive use of an infinity pool with breathtaking sea views.

I stayed in a Beach Club villa – a large, airy room with an equally large and airy terrace which was the perfect place to take refuge from the sun and relax to the sounds of the birds and crickets and the crashing ocean waves. But if you want to take relaxation to an even higher level then the spa offers a range of treatments. I sampled a foot massage and laying back, looking over the ocean, while the therapist expertly eased away the tension was truly blissful. Although it would be easy to spend your entire stay hidden away, cocooned in the luxurious surroundings of Coco Ocean, outside the walls the rest of the Gambia, with its raw, unspoilt beauty waits to be explored.

You can spend a morning with Ida (pictured right), a cheerful woman from the village of Brufut who will dress you in African clothing before taking you to a market to buy food, and show you how to prepare it in traditional Gambian style. Finally you can tuck into the feast that you have helped prepare, using only your hands as cutlery.

An afternoon and evening, or even a whole day could be spent at Makasutu Cultural Forest, a palm forest which has won awards for eco-tourism. There you can take a walk through the palm forest to see the wildlife, including baboons, and visit the medicine man, who has lived in the forest for more than 20 years, or explore the mangroves in a dug out canoe.

In the evening enjoy dinner in the forest before gathering round a camp fire to be entertained by locals performing African dances in traditional costumes. And if you really want to commune with nature you can spend part of your time in the Gambia staying in a luxurious jungle lodge or floating lodge on the river. A day excursion in a four-wheel drive will give you a brief insight into the realities of Gambian life.

I did not expect to fall in love with the Gambia the way that I did. It is so much more than simply a winter sun holiday destination. It is vibrant and exciting while at the same time being totally relaxing. There are beaches to rival those in the Caribbean, fantastic restaurants, bars and nightclubs, lush forests and hotels for every taste and budget. And I believe that the true beauty of the Gambia lies outside the walls of the hotels, and away from the many tourist drag. It is in thesweaty markets, secluded beaches and most of all, the smiles of the people. It truly is the Smiling Coast.

Fact File
Emma travelled with The Gambia Experience – the UK’s only specialist and biggest touroperator to The Gambia. Visit www.gambia.co.uk or call Reservations on 0845 330 2087.

Coco Ocean Resort & Spa is exclusive to The Gambia Experience and not available to UK visitors through any other tour operator.

Prices from Bristol International Airport this winter start from £988 per person based on seven nights’ bed and breakfast in a junior suite and £1,324 per person for seven nights’ bed and breakfast in a beach club villa. Prices include return flights from Bristol, in-flight meals, hotel transfers, government tourist tax and airport taxes.

All clients receive a complimentary foot massage as part of their booking. The last flight from Bristol this season will be on February 19.

Flights from Gatwick operate all year round: prices from £949 per person based on seven nights’ bed and breakfast in a junior suite and £1,289 per person for seven nights’ bed and breakfast in a beach club villa. Prices include return flights, in-flight meals, hotel transfers, government tourist tax and airport taxes.

Emma also visited: Mandina Lodges at Makasutu, Kombo Beach Hotel, Ngala Lodge, Sheraton Gambia Hotel, available from January 2010 on an all-inclusive basis.

Emma used the Bradt Travel Guide The Gambia priced at £13.99 available from www.bradtguides.

Gambia Beat Tunisia 2-1

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

The Gambia Scorpians beat Tunisia 2-1 in Tunis last Saturday in a friendly ahead of Tunisia’s entry in the Africa Cup of Nations this week. Cherno Samba and Sainey Nyassi scored the goals for Gambia in what was the first official match between the two countries.

Tunisia dominated the match for the first half, even after Darragi limped off following an ankle injury, and their domination continued into the start of the second half until Gambia’s Cherno Samba headed in the first goal in the 57th minute. Sainey Nyassi scored their second goal in the 85th minute after a poor clearance by the Tunisian keeper Adel Nefzi. Tunisia managed to score in the 94th minute but it was not enough, the game ending 2-1 to the visiting side.

Yesterday Tunisia drew with Zambia 1-1 in their first Group D game of the Africa Cup of Nations. You can follow their progress at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/8445859.stm

Winter Sun Escapes

Chris Moss - Time Out magazine — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Gambia - Kololi or Kotu

There may be no time lag to Gambia, but the six-hour flight will take you from the middle of the European winter to the height of the African summer. The palm-fringed beaches and fashionable hotels essential to any lazy summer holiday are found in Kololi and Kotu, but it would be a pity not to take advantage of a stay in this exotic land (a fave with repeat visitors - which is always proof of quality) to discover the wildlife in its parks, mangroves and islands.

Book with Gambia Experience (0845 330 2060 - www.gambia.co.uk)

Experiencing the smiling coast of Africa

Andy Walker - Birmingham Mail — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Getting There

The Gambia Experience – The UK’s only specialist and biggest tour operator to The Gambia. Reservations tel: 0845 330 2087. Web address: www.gambia.co.uk.

Flights from Birmingham, Manchester & Gatwick. More details on the country can be found in: Bradt Travel Guide - “The Gambia” priced at £13.99 and available at www.bradtguides.com

The Dark Continent provides bright images

Patrick Webb - The Daily Astorian — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

BAKAU, The Gambia - Ngagne Jobe is proud of his oceanfront fire and rescue station and eager to show it off.

He noticed me snapping photos of the African artwork adorning the hulls of eight battered wooden canoes and invited me on a tour.

With colleagues, Jobe staffs the Cape Point sea rescue unit on the Atlantic coast of one of the poorest countries in Africa.

Jobe wore a brown Avon Rescue uniform T-shirt. The British county fire service formed a partnership with Gambian emergency services after a vacationing firefighter realized their need. Now they no longer plunge into the treacherous ocean in ramshackle boats to save fishermen whose 20-foot wooden canoes capsize. Instead, thanks to fundraising by Avon volunteers and Rotary International, they launch bright orange hard-shell rescue boats powered by outboard motors.

Such is the serendipitous way in which The Gambia survives and prospers.

Africa, for a first-time visitor, is simultaneously wondrous yet depressing, captivating yet unsettling.

A child who grew up clutching an atlas, I always thought I would encounter the Dark Continent through my admiration for South African rugby or my dream of photographing animals on safari.

Instead, I went to stand side-by-side with my brother as he married a beautiful woman in The Gambia.

He had visited the tiny West African nation four times and warned me to shed images from books or TV and just open my mind; it was the best advice.

My first impression, flying in from overpriced, overcrowded England, was of an expanse of flat, barren scrubland, punctuated by low-slung resorts with turquoise swimming pools hugging the 50-mile coastline.

The closest comparison is the Caribbean. A cruise ship stop at Nassau is a pretty pathetic yardstick, but there are parallels in Africa's foliage, dust, dirt streets and weathered buildings that haven't seen a lick of paint since the 1950s.

In one week I absorbed indelible images. Women in brightly colored dresses carrying bundles on their heads. Donkeys and goats tethered at the roadside. Crazy drivers navigating potholed streets. Visitors bantering playfully with market traders who toss out an outrageous price then delight to haggle.

But poverty is pervasive. Boys, barefoot or in sandals, flit everywhere, begging from tourists. The most affluent wear replica shirts from their favorite soccer teams, Barcelona or Liverpool. On the dusty village square, their calloused feet bat a ball back and forth toward makeshift goals. Players give no quarter.

Religion is at the heart of everyday life. Ninety percent of Gambians are Muslims; leaders call the faithful to prayer five times every day. I visited during Tobaski, the feast of sacrifice. At a midmorning outdoor service, some 400 appeared in colorful full-length robes of greens and purples and laid down prayer mats in orderly lines. The women sat apart from the men, enjoying the minimal shade.

From a podium, the deep voice of the Imam reverberated through the multitude, who bowed deeply in a devout ballet, characterized by coordinated silent movement alternating with an eerie stillness. The scramble to get home was a startling contrast. I was invited to three homes to witness a ram being killed. (I declined, a decision balancing regret with relief.)

The Gambia was a British colony until independence in 1965. It is twice the size of Tillamook County with the population of greater Portland. Its economy is based on peanut farming, but it has been discovered by tourists from Britain and Scandinavia, a five-hour flight away. It is cheap, exotic, and once the rainy season is over, offers guaranteed sunshine.

Its tourist industry exploits the history of the slave trade highlighted by U.S. author Alex Haley, who traced his Roots back to the River Gambia. The villages of his ancestor, Kunte Kinte, still exist. Residents of Albreda and Juffureh - including two elderly ladies who purport to be his descendants - rely on a stream of inquisitive tourists arriving after a languorous two-hour boat ride.

Amid music from drums and the kora, a multistringed, harp-like instrument, knowledgeable guides describe how the Portuguese, British and French - with help from the Spanish, Dutch, Danes and Swedes - enslaved millions, sending them on perilous voyages to America and Brazil.

It remains a disgraceful stain on civilization that spanned centuries, so there is irony that it is boosting the economy of The Gambia.

I am not sure you can prepare for Africa; I went empty and left full.

It will call me back.

Patrick Webb is managing editor of The Daily Astorian. Coincidentally, 30 years ago he worked for the Bristol Evening Post, located in the Avon Fire District in western England, which is partnered with emergency services in The Gambia.

Here Comes The Sun

Sian Merrylees - WeightWatchers Magazine (Feb 2010) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Listening to the waves gently crash on to the beach just 100 yards away, while a skilled therapist uses warm aromatic oils to give me a head massage, is blissful enough. But it’s even more heavenly when I remind myself that just hours ago I was battling through London traffic.

My sister and I are in Gambia to sample Coco Ocean Resort & Spa, the country’s first spa hotel.

Upmarket hotels are popping up all over this West African country, as more of us discover that Gambia is an ideal destination for winter sun. Not only are you almost guaranteed year-round sunshine, with average temperatures hovering around 30 degrees, it’s also less than a six-hour flight from Gatwick airport and, in winter, there’s no time difference.

The hotel – a stunning mix of African and Moroccan architectural styles – is built on a slope that leads down to the sea and the unspoilt Bijilo beach, with suites and villas situated to give guests plenty of ocean view. Although our journey from the airport is through a dry, dusty landscape, here the lawns are lush and villas are hidden behind hedges of bougainvillea and jasmine. The spa is a whitewashed Moroccanstyle minaret with high ceilings and blue stained glass. The only sounds inside are the slap of flip-flops on tiles and the gurgle of the thalassotherapy pool. The atmosphere defies you to do anything other than relax. The Moroccan hammam, similar to a Turkish bath, is the perfect antidote to winter months spent hiding under woollen layers.

In the steam room, my therapist gives me a brisk body scrub using black olive soap, rinses this off, then covers my body in Rhassoul mud, a mineral-rich clay from the Moroccan Atlas mountains. I’m then left in the herbal-smelling steam to allow the treatment to penetrate my pores. Another favourite is the Gold Pearly Wrap, an exfoliating and conditioning treatment that finishes with your body being gently slathered in a moisturising cream to give it a beautiful golden shimmer – ideal for enhancing your tan. Very quickly our days fall into an easy pattern of leisurely breakfast, a laze beside the sea or one of the three swimming pools, then a spa treatment before or after lunch. There are three restaurants, with a slight bias towards Asian influences (the chef is Thai). Portions are large and it would be incredibly easy to give up any attempt to stick to your POINTS values. However, help is at hand. When my sister looks slightly daunted by the tempting croissants and fried breakfasts on offer, our smiling waiter suggests the chef whip up a simple omelette for her. And it is this friendly attentiveness of the staff that truly makes our stay. Beach towels arrive instantly and sun umbrellas are constantly adjusted forus as the shade moves. But ‘real’ Gambia is waiting, so we rouse ourselves to explore.

At the nearby market in Serekunda, we’re overwhelmed by young boys, who are desperate to sell us key rings, bracelets or animal woodcarvings. But it’s all good-natured and we laughingly push our way through to the older female stallholders in traditional African dress, who sit patiently beside their wares. Smiling and teasing goes a long way when we barter and I buy some wooden bowls that I tell myself wouldn’t look out of place in The Conran Shop.

Determined to eat healthily, we’ve gorged on local barracuda, ladyfish and prawns. So when we pass a fishing village, we’re keen to explore. Shoeless children slip their hands into ours and ask us where we’re from. Poverty is obvious but charm and banter are in ready supply. When I say we’re from Wales, the kids shout ‘Bora da!’ (good morning!). The gulf between hedonistic luxury at the hotel and living conditions outside isn’t lost on the many visitors to Gambia. On the flight over I met several returnees who, while pointing out how much the Gambian economy relies on tourism, admit they’ve packed gifts of biros and schoolbooks. And perhaps one day I’ll be among them. For although I was seduced by the sun and the spa, it’s the people who truly make you fall in love with Gambia.

The Gambia Experience (0845 330 2087; gambia.co.uk) offers seven-night holidays at the Coco Ocean Resort & Spa from £979 per person B&B, based on two sharing a Junior Suite, including flights, transfers and taxes.

An African Adventure

Daniel Pountney - Weekend - The Citizen and Gloucestershire Echo — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The sun always shines in The Gambia so Daniel Pountney took a winter break in the tiny west African country and found out why it's known as the Smiling Coast...

THEY hear the engine of our 4x4 roar and they start running towards us.

By the time we have parked on the school playground we are totally surrounded. We descend the short ladder of the trailer in to a sea of school children wearing baggy green uniforms and smiles as wide as Africa.

Immediately they thrust out their hands and each one has to be shaken. One of our party introduces the high five to the mass of seven and eight-year-olds and they go hysterical
with excitement.

You will never receive a warmer welcome that the one you get when you arrive at a school in The Gambia. Inside, we unload our bags of pens, pencils, crayons and books on to the desk of Malamin Badjie – headmaster of Wellingara Lower Basic School in Kombo.

The walls of his office are plastered with charts showing the scale of the task of educating the children we just met.

There are 1,644 children at the school aged between seven and 16. They belong to nine tribes – Mandingo, Wollof, Fula, Jola, Sarahuleh, Serer, Manjago, Aku and Bambara – each with their own language, customs and defining characteristics. The problem, he explains, is affording enough text books to teach the standardised curriculum. In the classrooms, the teachers lead lessons in English but spend too much time writing out passages on the blackboard because there aren’t enough books to go around.

Even so, the classroom seems a happy place with the children singing out responses to her questions in unison.

We board our noisy 4x4 again, and leave with smiles on our faces but plenty to think about.. I HAVE always been fascinated by Africa but both attracted to it and terrified by it at the same time. The continent seems infinitely vast, mysterious, full of wonder but also dangerous. I find the colours, climate, landscape, food, wildlife and differing cultures that exist below the Sahara utterly intoxicating.

But until now, I had been intimated by the poverty, living standards and lack of education of the population in the poorest part of the world.

During my previous visits to the continent I had also felt a little ashamed to be walking amongst the people knowing how far the money in my wallet would go for a family in the place I was visiting. Visiting The Gambia changed all of this. It’s a tiny country on the west coast – one of the smallest on the continent – but it’s amazingly diverse in terms of landscape which makes it a paradise for animal lovers, especially bird watchers.

The people, of which there are only around 1.5 million, are the friendliest you’re ever likely to meet wherever you go in the world. Around 90 per cent are Muslim, but they are relaxed, tolerant and
everyone speaks English. First they stare at you, then a huge smile breaks out across their faces.

“Welcome – Gambia no problem,” they all say. The first time we heard it was at Tanji fishing village – a place that overwhelms the senses and makes you realise that you are truly in Africa.

It had been a concern of mine that we would only see a sanitised version of the real country on the trip. It was a holiday after all, not a fact-finding mission or a charity expedition.

We were staying at the five-star Coco Ocean Resort & Spa – the country’s most luxurious hotel. Opened in only a year ago and styled with Moorish domes and arches, it has nine swimming pools and the first spa in the country.

Massage tables, a sauna, steam room, gym, plunge pool and other treatment rooms are all included in the 1,800 square metre facility which surrounds a pond filled with exotic fish in a courtyard in the hotel’s grounds.

Standard rooms, which are simple and calm, are part of the main hotel building. My suite was part of the Beach Club and was actually a detached villa with a huge bed, seating area, walk-through bathroom and dressing area. It also had a patio where at least 20 people could sit together to enjoy a Julbrew – the lager from The Gambia’s one brewery. When I first saw the spacious seating area I wondered who I was sharing it with. In fact, it was all mine and 13 other Beach Club residents all had their own.

From it I could lean back on my giant Prada cushion and watch the Atlantic Ocean roar into the beach where the hotel met the sand. The only thing that could get me out of that position on the first night was dinner. Coco Ocean has a fabulous restaurant and I tucked in to my shrimp and avocado salad, Thai chicken and the local dish butter fish benichin in that way that you can only do when you’re on holiday.

Spending time at the hotel was bliss, but to stay in the comfort of its grounds would have been doing a disservice to the country we were visiting.

The Gambia Experience, the holiday company who had sold me the idea of visiting this part of the world, had no intention of letting that happen.

The next day I was standing on the beach in Tanji as the air – heavy with the smell of fish – filled my nostrils and my eyes and ears tried to make sense of the riot of colour and noise.

Men hauled the catch from the wooden boats that bobbed up and down in the crystal clear sea, seagulls squarked constantly and swooped in and out of the crowd of fabulously dressed women on the beach.

They were cleaning the fish and then children, usually in fake English football shirts, were ferrying it back to the market stalls behind on huge dishes balanced on their heads.

I had never felt so far from home. We were taken to Tanji by Ida Njie who runs a Gambian home cooking course from her home in nearby Brufut.

Before we left her courtyard, she had dressed us in traditional clothes. I felt self-conscious getting out of our van at the market but within 10 minutes at least three local people had said I look good in my oversized white shirt with gold trim. One of our group looked so splendid that a Gambian lady threw her shawl on the ground for her to walk over.

Back at Ida’s house we were taught how to make benichin and then ate it with our hands, sitting on the ground in her shaded garden.

“OH, we thought The Gambia was our little secret,” said an English lady as another couple took their seats next to her on a packed plane from Bristol to Banjul.

“You’ll love it, but don’t tell too many people.” She doesn’t want floods of other tourists bypassing the Algarve, the Costa del Sol and the south of France and invading her favourite holiday destination. Here are the facts that the well-informed traveller doesn’t want the masses to know: You can fly to Banjul direct from Bristol, East Midlands or Birmingham and it only takes six hours to get there.

When you arrive, none of the hotels are far from the airport – Coco Ocean is just 15 minutes away. And because there’s no time difference, if you leave England in the morning you can be on the beach that same afternoon.

Located midway between the tropic of cancer and the equator, The Gambia enjoys virtually uninterrupted sunshine and high daytime temperatures with almost no rainfall from November to June. Today it’ll be around 90 degrees F without a cloud in the sky. If you like the convenience of a large hotel with several restaurants and plenty of activities led by friendly staff, The Sheraton Gambia Hotel is the place to go and is the only all-inclusive resort in the country. For a more romantic break, you could try the Ngala Lodge on a peaceful cliff-top where children aren’t allowed.

There’s plenty to do too like 4x4 adventures through the villages away from the coast, fishing and birdwatching. “That’s a blue-bellied roller,” announced Mucki pointing out abeautiful bird. “B-l-u-e b-e-l-l-i-e-d r-o-l-l-e-r.” Our guide from West African Tours, who lead excursions from the hotels, had a habit of spelling out all names after he said them.

He took us to the 1,000 acre reserve and eco-tourism centre Makasutu. Here two ex-pats, Lawrence Williams and James English, have negotiated with the government to take over the land and protect the forest from tree-felling and over-grazing.

Baboons strolled around the eating areas, butterflies and rare birds flew along the paths through the trees and we were on the lookout for Nile Crocodiles as we took a canoe trip along the river. Lawrence and James not only employ more than 100 local people as drivers, chefs, managers and guides, they also encourage visitors to go and see the people who live on the land who give demonstrations of woodcarving, music and traditional fortune telling.

A new venture for Makasutu is floating lodge accommodation for 12 guests. At night everyone gathers around a campfire to watch traditional dancing, storytelling and fire-eating. Over dinner that night Mucki mentioned that he coached a local football team who were playing in a cup final the next day.A few of us told him we wanted to go along and cheer his boys on.

So the next morning he picked us up on the way to the ground in his home town of Brikama.

Again, we were welcomed to a place where few tourists go with momentary stares and then wide smiles. The Gambia is a wonderful place that is everything I love about Africa and nothing I feared about it. If you haven’t been to the continent before, it would be the perfect introduction Gambia no problem.

FOR reservations call The Gambia Experience on 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk

Prices at Coco Ocean Resort & Spa this winter start from £1,028 per person based on seven nights B&B in a junior suite and £1,364 per person for seven nights B&B in a Beach Club villa.

Pricesinclude flights from Bristol, Birmingham or East Midlands.

This Christmas, the company is offering 10 or 14 nights b&b at Kombo Beach hotel (four star) from £599 per person departing December 18. The price includes a gala dinner on Christmas Eve.
More special offers are available at www.gambia.co.uk/specialoffers and WEEKEND readers can claim an additional £50 off for January departures from Bristol at any of The Gambia Experience’s Luxury Collection of hotels. Simply quote WEEKEND when booking.

Get Hooked

Derek James - Lets Talk Magazine (January 2010) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Less than six hours flying time away the sun is shining on the "smiling coast". This is The Gambia, the little country with a big heart - and it could melt yours. Derek James reports.

Smiling Coast

Miranda Morton - Travel Weekly — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Tourism in The Gambia is moving upmarket, discovers Miranda Morton on a trip with country specialist The Gambia Experience.....

For years The Gambia has been a popular destination for UK sun-seekers looking for a good value, mid-haul package holiday with a difference.

With the family-friendly resorts on its Smiling Coast served by a good range of charter flights and package holiday operators, the tiny English-speaking West African country offers a readily accessible taste of Africa.

And in recent years, the addition of more luxury accommodation and more flights from regional airports such as Bristol and Birmingham have widened its appeal.

While cheap packages and fly-and-flop breaks still sell well, travellers can now also choose to stay at the sprawling Sheraton Gambia, which from January 2010 will offer all-inclusive deals, or the sumptuous Coco Ocean Resort and Spa, not to mention the well established Coconut Residence.

The Atlantic Coast

The resort areas, clustered along the coast south of the River Gambia, all boast wide, sandy beaches and good dining options. Even quieter areas such as Bijilo are just a taxi ride from Kololi’s lively ‘strip’ with its numerous restaurants and nightclubs.

From sleepy Cape Point it’s only a 10-minute walk to Bakau, a small bustling town with a craft market and more restaurants. Kotu has developed with new restaurants and bars on the beach and a golf course nearby. Most of the resorts have on-site activities and some have lively social scenes.

A Taste of Gambia

For those looking to get more of a taste of the country, a four-wheel drive excursion offered by the likes of West African Tours, will provide an insight into the local culture.

Travellers can visit a school, see villages in remote farming areas and stop at Tanji Fishing Village to watch the locals haul in the day’s catch. At the local market, Yabouy Home Cooking takes visitors shopping for ingredients before teaching them how to cook a traditional Gambian meal.

Then, when night falls, Makasutu is a good place to head for a fireside meal and some traditional African dancing.

Wildlife

The Gambia is home to more than 560 bird species and The Gambia Experience offers bird-watching weeks with tailor-made excursions for serious twitchers.

Visits to Abuko Nature Reserve or Makasutu Cultural Forest also offer opportunities to spy other wildlife, from monkeys to lizards and even crocodiles.

Alternatively, day trips or fishing trips up the River Gambia offer the chance to see dolphins and hippos.

Where to Stay

For couples, Ngala Lodge’s 18 ocean-facing suites provide intimate luxury and tranquillity on a beautiful cliff top, and the Atlantic Suites all boast private Jacuzzis. Under-16s aren’t allowed.
The Mandina Lodges at Makasutu Forest are an idyllic escape from the resort scene. Crafted primarily from locally-sourced materials, the eight stunning lodges are in the heart of this 1,000-acre nature reserve. Evening meals are included.

Sheraton Gambia, which opened in 2006, sits proudly over the ocean in Brufut, and has 194 stylish ocean-facing rooms. There is also a small spa, a business centre and conference facilities.
The elegant and intimate Coconut Residence, sister property to Coco Ocean, was the first luxury hotel in the Gambia and has 22 suites and four villas. Although it lacks direct beach access, transport is available to Coco Ocean across the street for guests to make use of the facilities there, including the spa.

For a cheaper alternative, Kombo Beach has 258 rooms. Although the decor is somewhat dated, its relative affordability compensates for the need of a facelift, and the flat beach, playground and paddling pool make it good for small children.

Sample product

The Gambia Experience offers seven nights’ half-board at Ngala Lodge in a suite for £1,278 per person including flights. Price is based on travel in February/March 2010. Visit www.gambia.co.uk, tel: 0845 330 4567

Hotel review: Coco Ocean Resort and Spa, The Gambia

Miranda Morton tried out Morocco-influenced luxury hotel Coco Ocean while visiting Gambia with The Gambia Experience

This luxurious property, the newest offering for people wanting a high-end Gambian experience, has 59 rooms and building is under way on a further 45 suites. The Moorish-style decor is enhanced by palms trees and the scent of bougainvillea, combining to create a tranquil, romantic setting.

All rooms have air-conditioning, king-size beds, satellite TV and wi-fi, although the signal is intermittent. Club Villas have large private terraces and access to the club pool. There are various dining options, including the beachfront Coco Beach lunchtime grill that offers a Thai menu in the evenings, and international-style fine dining in the Safran.

Restaurant

The spa is a Moroccan oasis and the hotel’s crowning feature. It’s beautifully designed with immaculate treatment rooms and intricately tiled spas for men and women that house the steams rooms, sauna and cold plunge pools. Treatments include a traditional Moroccan hammam exfoliating treatment, and all guests receive a complimentary foot massage.

Coco Ocean Resort and Spa is exclusive to The Gambia Experience, which offers seven nights’ bed and breakfast in a junior suite in February or March, from £1,350 per person, including flights from Bristol, East Midlands, Birmingham or Gatwick and transfers.

Gorgeous Gambia Experience

Laura Page - Derby Telegraph — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Laura Page immerses herself in the Gambia Experience and discovers rich wildlife and a warm welcome...

As I turned the corner in Tanji market and beheld the extraordinary beach scene, which had opened up in front of me, I knew I’d wandered deep into the Gambia experience. The trip to Tanji fishing village was part of a cookery lesson with Ida Cham Njai, a warm and spirited Gambian woman who welcomes you into her home with open arms. She runs Yabouy, a small business offering cookery lessons to locals and tourists alike.

We began the day sheepishly changing into brightly coloured, patterned Gambian dress complete with grand wraparound headdresses for the women. Within minutes, none of us could remember how we’d looked in our drab Western attire and we felt right at home. This all helped when we arrived at Tanji market looking for ingredients for the dish we would cook. The sight of our group, 10 white, wideeyed visitors shuffling along draped in swathes of material, was greeted with enthusiastic cries of “very nice!” as women threw down their scarves for us to walk on, a gesture intended to tell us we looked beautiful, explained Ida.

Admittedly Ida did most of the bargaining and buying as we took in the atmosphere: stalls bursting with sea food and vegetables, baskets on heads, bobbing wooden fishing boats, the smell of raw fish, the sounds of buying and selling and the omnipresent squawking seagulls. The market is packed with women smoking, sorting, gutting and selling the catches of the day, men with bountiful nets of fish and children with infectious grins who will grab your hand as they ask you to take their picture or buy them a football. Well worth a visit. Back in the cool courtyard of Ida’s home we learned how to cook a typical Gambian fish stew before sitting on the floor, Gambian-style, around one big dish to share the delicious fruits of our labours.

The excursion was one of many offered by specialist tour operator the Gambia Experience and run by the very knowledgeable and friendly staff from West African Tours, the perfect hosts to introduce us to Gambia. Found on the western coast of Africa, it is one of the continent’s smallest countries but full of wonders to behold.

Other trips which gave us an insight into local life included a trip to the equivalent of the FA Cup Final, a voyage on a wooden canoe from which we saw numerous rare birds and various monkeys, all easily identified by our guides, and a show of traditional music and frenzied dancing which we could not help but join in around the campfire.

A favourite was a visit to a school where cheering children engulfed us in a wave of smiling faces in the playground. Tastes of the traditional Gambia can be balanced with any amount of relaxation and luxury according to the needs of the visitor.

Gambia’s newest and most opulent resort is Coco Ocean Resort and Spa, a short drive from the airport in the capital Banjul, right on Bijilo beach. The accommodation ranges from beautiful rooms in the main building to comfortable airy individual villas with huge terraces scattered around the extensive luscious grounds. The complex has a Moroccan theme throughout: white domed roofs protrude over bright blue pools, gentle cascades and exotic gardens. It boasts a number of excellent, relaxing restaurants serving a mix of food from around the world including an abundance of fresh seafood and many local dishes. There is an exceptional spa offering massages, foot rubs and hammams in calm fragrant rooms filled with piped music or the simple sounds of the crashing waves outside.

Gambia welcomes a wide range of visitors from birdwatchers, to honeymooners to film stars and young tourists and it caters well for all. The six-hour flight, new chic hotels and the fact that there is no time difference when travelling from the UK are making Gambia increasingly popular for British travellers. But what really sets Gambia apart is the rich wildlife, the vibrant daily life and the openhearted welcome received from the warm Gambian people.

Travel Facts

GETTING THERE: The Gambia Experience – the UK’s only specialist and biggest tour operator to The Gambia. Call 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk

WHAT TO DO: Coco Ocean Resort and Spa is exclusive to the Gambia Experience. All clients receive a complementary foot massage as part of their booking.

HOW MUCH: Prices this winter start from £1,014 per person, flying from East Midlands or Birmingham and based on seven nights bed and breakfast in a junior suite. Prices start at £1,350 in a beach club villa.

Boutique Winter Sun

Annabelle Thorpe - The Observer — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ngala Lodge, The Gambia

One of the best mid-haul bets for winter sunshine, the Gambia mixes beautiful beaches with nature reserves and forests, four-wheel drive adventures and fishing trips. Ngala Lodge (ngalalodge.com) is a former colonial mansion with just 10 suites in a spectacular clifftop location. A small private beach offers fantastic fishing at low tide.

Serenity Holidays (0845 330 2060; serenityholidays.co.uk) has a week from £599, including flights and transfers

Gambia and Senegal: winter warmth among the baobab trees

Francesca Hoyles - Telegraph.co.uk — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"Dos cervezas, por favor".

"Oh, do speak English, love, no one speaks Spanish around here," replied the barman, despite the fact that we were on Tenerife, a Spanish island. This was exactly the kind of exchange I was hoping to avoid on my next winter-sun break.

In previous years, the search for warm winter sunshine a short flight from Britain had taken me to beach resorts on Egypt's Red Sea Coast and the Canary Islands (both a five-hour flight away). I was looking for something different, removed from the beach bars and crowds, but still sunny and a similar distance away. Less than six hours' flying time from London, with average temperatures reaching 31 degrees in November, Gambia, on the west coast of Africa, looked promising. I decided to combine a holiday there with some time in Senegal, its larger neighbour.

Just a couple of hours after my flight landed in Banjul, Gambia’s capital, I was exploring the mangroves in a dugout canoe. In contrast to the 40-minute drive from the airport, along bumpy roads in an old banger, my watery excursion was calm and quiet. I passed women from local villages, who skirted the edges of the mangrove in pirogues (small wooden boats), studiously collecting the oysters that grew on its intricate roots. Besides these women, there were only hooting birds and an extraordinary number of jumping fish to break the peace.

My first night was spent at the Mandina Lodges on a tributary of Gambia River. There were eight lodges, either on the water or set back from the river like mine, which had its own large roof terrace with a day bed and seating area. Best of all, one of its two solar-powered open-air showers was on the roof. I enjoyed far-reaching views over miles of mangrove and golden sky as I washed away the grime of a day spent on the move.

As evening fell, I went down to the thatched restaurant by the water. I could only just make out the handful of other lodge guests in the lantern-lit space. A warm breeze entered the open-sided tented dining area, bringing the sound of roosting birds and the occasional pirogue being paddled back to a neighbouring village. It was a far cry from the hustle and bustle of beach resorts in more established winter-sun destinations.

The next morning, we set off for Senegal, crossing Gambia River as a foot passenger on the local ferry. It was the kind of journey where you needed to lose any stuffy British ideas about time. I stood squashed against other passengers in the scorching sunshine for more than an hour, waiting for the ferry to depart. In that time I was offered everything from a shoeshine (I was wearing flip-flops) to Manchester United key rings and toy mobile phones.

From the Mandina Lodges in Gambia, it took more than six hours to get to our accommodation near Palmarin through landscapes of shimmering salt flats and thirsty scrubland.

Our remote French-owned lodge, Les Collines de Niassam, was on the outskirts of the Saloum Delta National Park. It is set in a landscape that bore a striking resemblance to the Camargue, looking out on to a vast expanse of windswept sand carved up by the shallow waters of a lagoon, a haven for bird life. There were stilted lodges on the water, but mine was cradled in the upper branches of a mighty baobab tree, which swayed slightly in the breeze.

Halfway up the tree, reached by steps from the ground, was a terrace with table and hammock, where I breakfasted on baguettes (the French influence again) with a jam made by women from the neighbouring village out of bissap (hibiscus) flowers. This private platform amid the baobab branches was the perfect spot to watch the pelicans as they swooped into the lagoon and emerged with beaks full of fish.

In fact, many people come to the region to see the abundant bird life. Even if you are not a birdwatcher, there are so many species, in so many colours and sizes, that it would be hard not to find them a beautiful distraction.

After dinner, we drank on the restaurant terrace overlooking the lagoon’s baobab-topped islands – one of which, according to local legend, is inhabited by a sacred spirit. There were no neighbouring bars or hotels. The only light came from flickering lanterns that led back to the lodges; the only noise that of distant drumming, was occasionally carried on the wind from the nearest village. The sense of isolation – which took some getting used to – was absolute.

When morning came, we took a boat trip through nearby mangroves to a beach where we sampled oysters plucked from the mangrove roots and cooked over a smoky fire. The guide didn’t speak English and I only speak a few words of French so after a few attempts to communicate, I settled for pointing at birds in exchange for their French names and then ultimately for silence. It couldn’t have been further from the “speak English, love” experience – but, perversely, it left me wishing that we could have communicated more easily.

Returning to Gambia, we drove past carts pulled by donkeys and through villages where the water was drawn from wells and electricity didn’t exist. I found myself dwelling on this simplicity and the accompanying hardships for the people who live here. The chasm between this way of life and the relative luxury of the tourist resorts seemed immense.

Back at the Mandina Lodges, this disparity hadn’t been swept under the carpet. As the sun set over the mangrove, the owners – an uncle and nephew team from England – told me how staff at the lodges and forest come from the surrounding villages, a move designed to ensure that local people benefit from tourism. At the Makasutu Culture Forest – the 1,000 acres of mangroves, savannah, palms, wetlands and salt flats where the lodges are set – the eco-guides speak fluent English, making it a popular excursion for people who want to learn about Gambian wildlife, nature and culture.

As at Collines de Niassam, there was little to do but explore the natural surroundings and bird life. Mostly, it was a place for peace and quiet, away from rowdier destinations on the well-worn winter-sun trail.

Gambia and Senegal basics
Francesca Hoyles travelled with Gambia Experience which offers an eight-night Gambia-and-Senegal holiday, incorporating the Mandina Lodges at Makasutu in Gambia and Lodge des Collines de Niassam in Senegal, from £1,377 per person (based on two people travelling).
This price is based on four nights at Mandina (half board in a floating lodge) then four nights at Lodge des Collines de Niassam (half board in a tree house) and includes a return flight from Gatwick*, transfers and taxes.

For more information, please contact Gambia Experience (0845 330 2087; www.gambia.co.uk), or The Senegal Experience (0845 338 8706; www.senegal.co.uk).

*Flight is into Banjul, Gambia and out of Dakar, Senegal

44 wintersun classics for under £1,000

Stephen Bleach & Chris Haslam - The Sunday Times — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The signs are unmistakable: it’s wet and windy, and dark at four, so it must be time to head south and bask in some winter sun. The only problem is, whenever you scour the newspapers for suggestions, it’s always £3,000-a-week luxury hideaways . That’s where our cost-conscious guide comes in: dozens of sunshine breaks, each one under £1,000pp. Cheap, then – but not nasty. The fact is, anyone can find mass-market packages to the sun for less than a grand, especially with prices tumbling this season. What’s not so easy is avoiding the grim concrete all-inclusives and homing in on holidays with charm and character – places that are worth your time as well as your money.
They’re out there, though, and to prove it, here are 44 of ’em, from traditional fincas in the Canaries to barefoot resorts in the Caribbean to fully fledged desert-island idylls in the Maldives. So, pack the T-shirt and sunnies, and get going. You can afford it.

AFRICA
At its best, the Gambia is all about friendliness, charm and history. That’s why the mass-market hotels, with their bland food and hustling beach bums, do it a disservice. Ngala Lodge, on the other hand, shows the country’s feelgood side: it’s a refurbished colonial mansion on low cliffs, overlooking a lovely bay, where the 18 suites are decorated with superb local paintings and sculpture. The restaurant has earned a reputation as one of the best on the coast, with excellent fish, and the bar stages jam sessions for local and visiting musicians. The price is £599, B&B, leaving on December 8, with The Gambia Experience (0845 330 2087, gambia.co.uk).

To read this feature in full, please click to view the online version

The Gambia: Up Close

Alex Spence - Timesonline — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In a brightly painted courtyard at her home on the Atlantic Coast, shaded by citrus and avocado trees, Ida Cham Njie is teaching my girlfriend, Michelle, and I to cook fish yassa, a staple West African dish.

It’s a family effort: Ida’s sisters-in-law clean and gut the cassava fish we bought at a local market a few hours earlier, while her husband, a quietly-spoken engineer, helps prepare the vegetables.
“In our culture it is taboo for men to be near the kitchen,” Ida says. “If my mother-in-law saw this, I’d be in trouble.”

Ida is a tall, striking woman in her mid-40s. She formerly ran one of The Gambia’s top resorts, but struck out on her own in September, opening Yobouy, a catering business and cooking school specialising in traditional cuisine.

One of a growing number of entrepreneurial locals attempting to offer tourists a more intimate, community-based experience, Ida is determined to show that there’s more to her country than golf, game fishing and birdwatching cruises.

The Gambia is one of Africa’s smallest countries, a 350 kilometre strip along the Gambia River that is almost entirely enveloped by Senegal. Its 1.4 million people depend largely on small-scale agriculture for their livelihoods but tourism is also crucial to their fortunes.

The former British colony attracted 146,759 tourists in 2008, of which more than 40 per cent were from the UK.

It may not be as popular as, say, the Caribbean or Thailand as a wintersun destination, but The Gambia does have plenty to recommend it: terrific climate, cheap prices, decent beaches. It’s only a six hour flight from London and in the same time zone; it helps that almost everyone speaks English.

And the addition of several flash new hotels, including the eco-friendly Mandina Lodge, set in a protected 1,000-acre rainforest, and Coco Ocean, a luxury oceanfront hotel that opened last December, has helped to lure a broader range of tourists. Yet for all its apparent appeal, we were sceptical.

After ten days travelling through remote villages in Senegal, we worried that we would find The Gambia excessively touristy, even a bit dull.

Would we be trapped in a dreary resort, surrounded by grey-haired Brits interested only in improving their tans and their golf swings? A French expatriate we met in Senegal, when we told him we were heading to The Gambia, quipped, “How’s your grip?”

We’d heard all the stories about sex tourists and “bumsters”, the local hustlers who prowl the beaches and markets looking for gullible foreigners to prey on. Thefts and attacks against tourists are on the rise, according to the UK’s Foreign Office.

And a series of negative headlines in the British press hadn't improved our perceptions, either. In December, a couple of British missionaries were jailed for apparently criticising The Gambia’s human rights record; more recently, over 1,000 villagers were rounded up and forced to drink toxic potions after they were accused of practicing witchcraft.

In the end, though, we were pleasantly surprised. The Gambia is touristy, sure, but it’s hardly Bali or Phuket. There are no fast-food chains or flashy Western-style stores. There are only six sets of traffic lights and a couple of ATMs in the entire country.

Step outside the landscaped, air conditioned comfort of your hotel and there’s no mistaking you’re in a poor African country: dusty and potholed roads, animals roaming freely, barely roadworthy vehicles belching black smoke.

Michelle and I arrived by land from Senegal to the north. After a delay at the ramshackle border post, we jostled onto an impossibly crowded car ferry for the journey across the river to Banjul, the capital.

We had arranged for a driver to meet us at the other side, but he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, we were quickly surrounded by touts and taxi drivers. A policeman stepped out of the crowd to help us find a ride to our hotel. A grateful taxi driver quietly slipped him 100 dalasis (£2.40) for his trouble.

The hotels cluster along the Atlantic Coast. We stayed at Ngala Lodge, in Bakau, a seafront town that is home to diplomats, businessmen and members of The Gambia’s political elite. Ngala Lodge is a converted colonial mansion on a clifftop road near the British High Commission, with spacious suites and an excellent restaurant. Its real highlight is a lush garden that sweeps down to a private beach.

For the first few days, we were happy just to laze about, swimming and reading, drinking cocktails, watching the sun set. Most of the other guests similarly seemed to have little inclination to leave the hotel.

Feeling a little guilty, we did venture out in the evening to check out some of the restaurants along the coast, which were surprisingly good. The first night, we ate at Avocado, at the Coconut Residence hotel in Kololi.

Admittedly, we had a couple of gripes — the service was comically overattentive and the price was, by local standards, eye-poppingly expensive (£90, including wine, for the two of us) — but the food was generally very good.

The next night we tried The Butcher’s Shop, in Fajara, which we liked even more. It was romantic but unpretentious, friendly, and served an excellent steak. The restaurant was only a few kilometers from our hotel, so we decided to walk back after dinner. Everywhere else we had been required a taxi and it was a warm, pleasant night, so why not? Despite the warnings about attacks on tourists, we did not feel unsafe.

The next morning, we meet Ida.

A day with her begins at a small beachfront market in Tanji, a village about 15 minutes from her family home in Brufut. It's typical of other markets we’ve visited in Senegal and Gambia: full of noise and colour, the air thick with the stench of fish and acrid black smoke from open fires.

Women in loudly-patterned dresses, children in tow, sell barracuda, catfish, snapper, ladyfish and various other types of seafood I can’t identify. They're formidable negotiators, so we leave Ida to take care of the haggling. Then it's on to the vegetable stalls where we stuff our baskets with green tomatoes, aubergines, onions, okra and sorrel leaves. Back at Ida’s house, we soon transformed her courtyard into an open-air kitchen.

Home cooking in Gambia is a slow, labour-intensive exercise but also a marvellously social one. Their cuisine is relatively uncomplicated, consisting predominantly of fish or chicken stews — this being a Muslim country, pork is seldom eaten — served with rice.

Ida shows us how to prepare the fish, then they’re wrapped in foil and left to grill slowly over a small charcoal stove. The sauce, a mix of onions, lemon juice and mustard, simmers in another huge pot, while Michelle purees the sorrel leaves using a giant wooden mortar and pestle.

The yassa takes several hours to cook; by the time Ida declares it ready the courtyard is filled with stomach-teasing aromas.

We sit down with the family on the tiled ground as the yassa is laid out on a huge plate in front of us. Everyone digs in with their hands, as is customary. It’s harder to eat this way than it first seems and I make a proper mess of it; Ida, finding it hilarious, eventually takes pity and hands me a spoon. It tastes good — simple, but filling and flavoursome.

After lunch, there’s a surprise. Ida has invited her friend Sheikh Omar Sohna, a Gambian percussionist, to join us for lunch and he lets us have a go at playing his djembe drums. Sheikh Omar, who goes by the stage name “Sheikh Blondie”, recently returned to The Gambia after eight years living in the UK, largely because he missed the lifestyle and the weather. Now he teaches drumming to schoolkids and tourists. He’s a natural entertainer and his enthusiasm for Gambian music is infectious.

He tells us that although Gambian musicians are overshadowed by their Senegalese neighbours — many of whom, including Youssou N’Dour and Baaba Maal, have become internationally famous — they are every bit as skilled and imaginative. “Every Gambian is born with a drum,” he says.
That may be true, but can he teach a rhythmically-challenged white guy to play? Slowly, patiently, Sheikh Omar guides Michelle and I through the basics. Then he counts off a simple beat: "tone, tone, bass . . . Tone, tone, bass. . ."

We do our best to follow but we're too tentative. "It’s dead animal skin," he chides. "You can’t hurt it."
Eventually, we find a groove. Sheikh Omar begins singing in Wolof. Ida and the family clap and dance along. The music is irresistible, as is their openness, their hospitality. Hopefully, for their sake and for The Gambia's, a new generation of British tourists will think so, too.

Need to Know
Alex Spence travelled as a guest of The Gambia Experience, staying at Ngala Lodge in Bakau for 4 nights. This winter The Gambia Experience is offering seven-night packages at Ngala Lodge from £854pp, based on B&B for two and including flights from Gatwick, transfers and taxes.

For those on more of a budget, The Gambia Experience offers seven nights at the four-star Kombo Beach hotel from £546 pp, based on B&B for two sharing a non-air conditioned room, including flights from Gatwick, transfers and taxes.

What to do
The Gambia Experience offers several bookable full or part-day excursions, including a boat journey to the historic slave trading station that inspired Alex Haley’s “Roots” for £48.50 per person and a four-wheel-drive tour of beaches and fishing villages for £35pp.
For those interested in wildlife up close, there are trips across the border to a nature reserve in Senegal for £58 per person and a day in the Makasutu eco-forest for £44 per person.

Visas & jabs
British passport-holders do not require visas for tourist entry to The Gambia. Vaccinations not required for entry from the EU, but jabs for typhoid and hepatitis A are recommended. Malaria is a problem, so anti-malarial medication is avisable.

Gamble on The Gambia

Laura Powell - The Daily Mail — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Somewhere between stumbling across a 5ft monitor lizard and bumping into a family of baboons cracking groundnuts between their teeth, I realised I was lost. Hopelessly disorientated. And deep in the tangle of the West African bush.

This was Makasutu, a forest in The Gambia dense with strangler and baobab trees, which local Mandinga tribesmen believe is haunted with devils, dragons and mystical creatures called Djinns. Quite the stuff of horror films.

Thank goodness, then, for Mohammed, our nimble guide, who, familiar with this 33 square mile jungle, dived between low branches, over giant ghekkos, and hours later brought us back to civilisation.

So civil, in fact, that my mother and I were side-by-side on spongy mattresses at the Coco Ocean Resort & Spa, while a masseuse slathered us with neroli oil as we watched steel-blue waves foam and crash on the deserted stretch of sand ahead. The only figures on the horizon were a row of fishermen kneeling to pray.

Sounds like a complete contradiction - flitting between unadulterated primitive bush and unadulterated five-star luxury. Well, that's how you know you're in The Gambia.
Where else would you find two beaches, ten minutes apart - one, crammed shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds of local women haggling for ladyfish, so fresh it's still in the nets; while the other is deserted, studded with palm trees, and the only sign of life is a waiter hurrying down from the Coco Ocean with your pina colada.

The biggest contradiction, though, is The Gambia's proximity to Britain. This pea-sized country, sandwiched beside Senegal, might feel worlds away - but it's only a six-hour flight. And during the coldest months of the British winter, humidity in The Gambia is minimal and sunshine almost constant.

But unlike Egypt and Morocco, which pull in thousands of British tourists, visitors to The Gambia are still only a steady trickle.

Perhaps it's because The Gambia's reputation is tarred: it's been wrongly labelled the 'Benidorm of Africa', and a stop-off shop where middle-aged desperados fly in search of a quick tan and a toy-boy.

But The Gambia really has had a facelift. Top-end hotels in the capital, Banjul, have sprung up, as well as retreats in the bush, like Mandina River Lodge developed by two Britons, James English and Lawrence Williams.

Meanwhile, the dust-track roads are snaked with carcasses of buildings that one day will be even more shops, restaurants and guest houses. Just don't ask 'when'.

Because the moment you touch down in The Gambia, internet access becomes precarious, foreign newspapers are non-existent and forget about asking the time. Even the mosquitos are lethargic.
For Mum and I, it began as a weekend getaway for a shot of winter sun. The blink- and- you'll-miss-it flight was spent popping antimalarials and, in my poor mother's case, diazepam (as she was terrified at the prospect of a flight beyond Europe).

She was more nervous of battling with overfriendly bumsters (the cruel nickname for beggars). Gaggles of them flock to help carry your suitcase at Banjul Airport or try to escort you round the markets should you venture unchaperoned.

She was even more fearful still of seeing the crocodiles that have been known to loll between the mangroves or on the banks of River Gambia in Makasutu.

But something must have changed her. Perhaps it was the locals themselves, who give The Gambia its nickname, the 'Smiling Coast'. Because, four days later, diazepam in hand, as we boarded the Gatwick-bound return flight, Mum chuckled to the security guard: 'We'll definitely be back next year.'

We were intoxicated by the hotel. The flashy Coco Ocean exudes calm the moment you walk in, with its sky-high ceilings propped up with white pillars, monochrome-striped floors dotted with acid-bright suites, all arched backs and curved edges.

The theme there is Morocco; Moorish furniture, stained-glass lanterns, white-washed bungalow suites that rise higher than the palms, and in the spa, hammams to pipe music.

Aside from the crash of the ocean and the lap of the three infinity pools, it's silent. The staff - a ratio of at least nine to one guest - breezed about, urging us to eat more, relax more. 'Go on, have a fourth course.'

When I politely refused - it was only breakfast time, after all - the chirpy waiter, Ousman, recommended I keep it for later in case I was peckish.

Fat chance of hunger. After a threecourse breakfast and before a threecourse dinner, I still needed space for the African cookery course I was scheduled to attend.

In a 4X4, Mum and I bounced along the potholed roads to Brufut, where Ida Cham Njai, our host for the day, cooked up a traditional African feast at her home.

Wearing full African dress, we followed Ida around the fish and fruit market and bartered for bitter tomatoes, garlic, butternut squash, rice and a huge bag of peanuts.

Back at her compound, we crowded around the outdoor stove and spent a sluggish hour picking out each gritty grain from the huge urn of rice. Sometimes, we paused to refresh with a slug of wonjo juice, a sticky, sour cranberry-coloured drink. Three hours later, kneeling around a huge communal platter with Ida, her nephew and sistersinlaw, we tucked in.

With her hands, Mum rolled wet balls of rice then devoured them with the vegetables and hunks of boiled, peanutty beef.

Fuelled with confidence after immersing herself in real Gambian dining, Mum agreed to venture into the biggest market in the country. Albert Market in Banjul is a maze of makeshift stalls topped with rusting, corrugated steel, where vendors vie for attention with tongue clicks.
Rickety wooden shelves are piled with dusty mangoes, carved batiks with googly eyes, Manchester United football shirts; there were onions spread out on brown paper under sun-bleached Coca-Cola umbrellas, multi-coloured underpants, rolls of dyed cotton - and bags of peanuts balanced atop women's heads.

Even Mum relaxed into the jokey bartering and, smiles on faces, we haggled down a wooden chair to a bargain-basement British price that, in The Gambia, was more than fair.

Perhaps it was that newfound knack for bartering that gave my mother the ultimate confidence: stepping into a dugout canoe, to paddle along the River Gambia through Makasutu with a guide armed (against the crocodiles) with nothing but a stumpy oar.

You could hear the baboons chasing and calling each other. One screamed. Then silence again. Nothing but the sound of a single oar slapping against the surface of the river.

Delirious on the thick September humidity, we relaxed. Once again, we felt lost. But this time, happily lost, pleasantly disorientated and embracingly lost.

Travel Facts: Double rooms at the Coco Ocean Resort & Spa, B&B, start at £955 per person for seven nights, based on two people sharing when booked with The Gambia Experience (0845 330 2087, www.gambia.co.uk). Price includes flights, transfers and taxes.

Coco Ocean Resort & Spa - 'African Paradise'

Hannah Fox - Healthy magazine — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Read Hannah Fox's review of the Coco Ocean Resort & Spa
‘This feature was published in the Sept/Oct 09 issue of Healthy magazine, available in Holland & Barrett stores.’

How The Gambia's People Showed Me the Richness of Life

Andy Darlington - Derby Telegraph — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

HOW THE GAMBIA’S PEOPLE SHOWED ME THE RICHNESS OF LIFE
THE difference between rich and poor in the Gambia is simply staggering.
At one end of the scale, people live in mud huts or shacks of corrugated iron with little money, healthcare or prospects for a cosy retirement. Life expectancy is about 59.
At the other end are some of the most opulent hotels on the planet. One reminded me of Saddam Hussein's famous palaces. Naturally, these are all aimed at Western tourists.
Yet despite their poverty, the Gambian people are warm, welcoming and happy. Money is not an issue for them. The global recession means nothing in the capital, Banjul.
Their passion is not for climbing the career ladder or getting the largest flat-screen TV, but enjoying life, being happy and loving and providing for their families.
They also love British people. The Gambia was a British colony from 1889 until 1965 and the locals still affectionately refer to white people as "Two Bob" – the price early colonists paid to hire locals as servants.
There is no place for racism in the Gambia and, because of this, I felt humbled during my stay and ashamed of attitudes held by some in the supposedly more advanced West.
I stayed in the capital, Banjul, on the southern banks of the Gambia River's estuary with the Atlantic. The nation surrounds the northern and southern banks of the river, running from west to east for about 200 miles and bordered on all sides, aside from the river mouth, by Senegal.
My trip began with a thrilling four-wheel drive journey in a battered truck converted, with seats, to carry passengers in the back. To say it was a bumpy ride is an understatement. Most roads are dirt tracks. Others are streambeds.
On the roadsides of the larger streets were children waving hello, women in robes of vibrant colours and, oddly, lots of men mending lots of bicycles!
Into the jungle we went to visit the Beekeeping in the Gambia project in Kiang West.
After a traditional dance by the women, I was shown the hives and a shop from which honey and beeswax candles could be bought.
The next stop was a tiny village of mud huts, far from the dusty towns and cities. Large families live in compounds and will probably never leave.
With the Muslim family I met, none spoke English – the first language of the Gambia. But my guide was able to translate and reveal the men could have up to four wives. The man we met had one. He couldn't afford more, he said. Yet, he did have about a dozen children.
Family members sleep in a single mud hut – the children on mats on the floor. They live outside their home in the compound and fields nearby, the adults farming and preparing food and the children playing football and looking after goats. The family invited me into their home and explained how they lived. The children were in awe when I took their photos on my digital camera and showed the pictures to them.
A trip to the Makasutu Culture Forest followed. It boasts luxury lodges on stilts for guests on a mangrove-clothed tributary of the River Gambia in the heart of the bush. I took a canoe trip to see some of the wildlife. I saw kingfishers, lizards and fiddler crabs waving their one big claw as we sailed past. A word of caution – do not take the trip when the tide is low, as the canoe tends to become grounded and you'll be pushing it.
After dinner, I was treated to entertainment, featuring fire-eaters, dancing and music.
Another highlight was a trip to a primary school in Banjul. The teachers are caring and the children eager to lap up all they are taught. Not all have parents rich enough to send them to school. The children were happy to demonstrate their singing in the classroom and dancing in the playground.
On my final day, I hired a taxi driver for a couple of hours – that's how it's done there – and, being a football fan, went to see the Independence Stadium in Bakau. A guard showed me round the modern, 25,000-capacity stadium and I returned to the taxi – a battered Peugeot which had never seen an MoT.
The driver asked if I'd like to see crocodiles in the wild. As with the stadium, this wasn't on the official itinerary.
Off we set to a large pond in a wooded glade in Kachikally. Dozens of crocs were lounging in the sun as we walked past, inches from their huge open mouths and razor-sharp teeth.
It will stay with me forever – walking round marvelling at these magnificent beasts, which could have destroyed us I was introduced to Charlie – the oldest croc – and invited to stroke his ice-cool back. What an experience!
I could bang on about the luxury hotels built for the tourists but I'm not going to. That is what the internet is for.
The people are what this nation is all about. Everyone I met had a welcome and a beaming smile. Their happiness is infectious and their lack of want for possessions refreshing. The nation boasts just three cash machines. I'd never considered visiting Africa before, but I can't wait to return.
INFORMATION
GETTING THERE: The Gambia Experience is the UK’s biggest tour operator to The Gambia. For more details, call 0845 330 2087 or visit www.gambia.co.uk/travel
GETTING AROUND: West African Tours provide trips, guides and drivers. Bookings can be arranged through The Gambia Experience.
WHERE TO STAY: Corinthia Atlantic Hotel – www.gambia.co.uk/Corinthia-Hotel
HOW MUCH: Prices start at £599 per person, which is based on seven nights bed & breakfast from East Midlands.

A Moorish Experience

Jane Sullivan - Hampshire Society Magazine — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Warmest of Welcomes in West Africa

Jane Labous - The Sunday Express — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Jane Labous combines sunbathing at a Gambian resort with a 4x4 tour exploring the coast of neighbouring Senegal and visiting deserted islands.

A MAN PARADES a selection of extra-large men’s vests in front of me, and looks astonished when I shake my head. “But madame?” Men’s underwear isn’t the only thing I’m offered during my ferry ride across the river between Gambia and Senegal. There’s the water pistol, the scarlet satin skirts, the temptingly named Blue Feeling perfume, not to mention the ground millet (“makes you strong, madame!”), peanuts, matches and frozen bissap. I refuse all but the bissap, West Africa’s irresistible, all-natural version of Slush Puppie made from hibiscus flowers and sugar.
Gambia is a sliver of an English-speaking nation buried in Francophile Senegal.
By flying into Banjul and out of Dakar, Senegal’s capital, you can see both in one trip, combining sunbathing at one of Gambia’s Atlantic resorts with a 4x4 tour up the Senegalese coast. Both countries boast blue skies and sun, their cultures infused with a particular brand of West African flamboyance, music and cheerful opportunism.
In Banjul, the village-like capital of Gambia, Albert Market is a jigsaw of stalls selling pungent dried fish, rolls of tie-dyed cotton, cascades of vegetables and strange apothecary remedies for everything from impotence to headaches.
I’m staying at Ngala Lodge, a few miles outside Banjul on the stretch of blue Atlantic that the Gambians call the Smiling Coast. My room at the top of the old colonial mansion is furnished with wood carvings, a four-poster bed and a pair of spectacular orange curtains printed with the figure of an African woman. The balcony looks on to well-tended tropical gardens and, beyond, the ocean, where at sunset the smiling coast blushes rosy pink.
West Africans are proud of the “teranga”, or hospitality, that’s legendary in these parts.
When my guide Yamar and I reach the Senegalese border, the customs official nearly explodes with excitement when I attempt a few words of the native language. Heading north towards the Sine Saloum Delta, where the Sine and Saloum rivers meet the Atlantic, we cross flat plains dotted with baobabs, the giant trees with muscular, root-like branches, which can hold up to 1,000 gallons of water and live 3,000 years.
We enter the Palmarin region, where palm-fringed islands are scattered among “bolongs” or natural canals bordered by mangroves. Beneath the dome of white-hot sky the landscape is lush. Drifts of water lilies float beneath mango trees alive with birdsong and I spot ospreys, pelicans, weaver birds and the glamorous pink flash of a flock of flamingos.
Le Royal Lodge is the Delta’s most luxurious hotel, where I’m given my own “boutique version” of a mud hut with a spiralling bamboo roof, smooth red walls and all mod-cons. Most stunning are the bedspreads, chairs, lamps and curtains made from earth-printed Malian fabric in black and brown patterns.
During the day I visit uninhabited Sangomar Island. Afterwards, fisherman Bachir navigates our painted boat through the mangroves, pointing out the oysters growing on the roots and the tiny, single-pincer “violin crabs”.
Along the coast is Saly, Senegal’s most popular resort. I’m staying at the Lamantin Hotel, a serene place with air-conditioned rooms. On the crescent of white beach, the waitress brings chilled watermelon and families whizz about the calm bay on jet skis. The breakfast buffet is resplendent with baobab and bissap jams, fresh croissants and mangoes, while the evening spread features Senegalese dishes, from salted sea bass to marinated sardines.
Dakar is just 90 minutes from Saly. The battered yellow and blue minibuses that form its intercity service trundle along streets crowded with boys selling oranges from wheelbarrows and stately Senegalese ladies in vivid boubous, West Africa’s traditional dress. The country’s most famous musician, Youssou N’Dour, lives near my hotel, the Madrague in Ngor, on the coastal outskirts of the city. It’s a tranquil area; boys play football on the beach, goats drift among the sunseekers and a holiday atmosphere prevails.
Best of all is the painted fishing boat taking tourists across the bay to Ngor island, which costs just 50p. Here you can dine royally on thièbu dieun, Senegal’s national dish of rice and fish, for £3, or laze beneath a parasol. You might even be lucky enough to catch one of the rastafarians playing his “djembe” hand drum and when the lady trying to sell you a necklace starts dancing instead, you know you’re in West Africa.

GETTING THERE
The Gambia Experience / The Senegal Experience (0845 338 8706 / www.senegal.co.uk) offers an eight-night, twin-centre Gambia and Senegal holiday from £1,332pp (two sharing), including four nights B&B at Ngala Lodge in the Gambia, four nights half-board at Le Royal Lodge in Senegal and return flights from Gatwick.

A one-day Islands and Waterways of Saloum tour is from £84 for two people.

Gambia Tourism Authority: www.visitthegambia.gm Senegal Tourist Office: www.senegal-tourism.com